HE Episcopal Church 

Its Message for Men of Today 



GEORGE PARKIN ATWATER 




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THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

Its Message for men of today 



The 
Episcopal Church 

Its Message for Men of Today 

BY 



GEORGE PARKIN ATWATER 

RECTOR OF THE ^ 

CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOUR 

AKRON, OBIO 



PARISH PUBLISHERS 
AKRON, OHIO 






Copyright, 1917 

By 

George Parkin Atwater 



DEC 15 1917 

©CU481019 



■/ - 



TO THE FAITHFUL PEOPLE 

OF 

THE CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOUR 

AKRON, OHIO 

WITH WHOM HE HAS SERVED 
THE TWENTY YEARS OF HIS MINISTRY 

THIS BOOK 

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 

BY THEIR RECTOR 



PREFACE 

This book is a serious effort to appeal to the 
minds and hearts of those who are becoming 
aware of the unique character and claims of 
the Episcopal Church. The charm of the 
Church is being felt everywhere in our land. Its 
breadth of sympathy for all conditions of men, 
its more satisfying point of view concerning the 
joys of life, its freedom from eccentricities of 
faith and practice, have brought the Episcopal 
Church to the attention of many whose religious 
affiliations have been somewhat disturbed or 
weakened. 

There are certain apparent obstacles, how- 
ever, which are preventing many from member- 
ship in the Episcopal Church. The Church 
seems somewhat strange, or formal, or complex, 
or cold. It does not seem to fulfill the condi- 
tions that early training had lead many to ex- 
pect in a church. Its services seem obscure and 
rigid; its methods elaborate; its practices un- 
usual. It seems to require a decision of a pro- 
nounced nature, for one to determine to find in 
the Episcopal Church his spiritual home. 

vii 



PREFACE 

These apparent obstacles are^ I am convinced, 
the result of misunderstanding and of the lack 
of definite information. When the Church is 
seen as a whole; when its purpose in its services 
is fully made known; when its reasons for its 
methods are made clear, the obstacles vanish. 

It is quite certain, as experience has taught 
many a minister of the Church, that there are 
many people who are adrift from religious 
affiliation because they believe they cannot con- 
form to the practices, or fulfill the expectations, 
of church membership. To such the Episcopal 
Church has a message of deepest import. The 
Church presents a teaching and practice, which, 
when understood, have claimed the enthusiastic 
allegiance of many who have felt an uncomfort- 
able isolation from religious associations. The 
faith of the Episcopal Church is sane, reason- 
able, and of right proportions. Its practices are 
stimulating and satisfying and strengthening. 
Its methods are calm and healing. It has an at- 
mosphere of joy and peace. Its purpose is to 
educate the people in the life of the Kingdom of 
God, and to do this with care, patience and with 
sympathy. The Church is not exclusive, but in- 
clusive of every soul having a good intention. 
It is not the judge and the accuser of its people 
but their advocate and friend. 

This book is intended for those who would 
understand the Episcopal Church; both its 



PREFACE 

spirit and practices. It considers chiefly the 
initial difficulties of those coming for the first 
time within the influence of the Church. It is 
not a manual of Christian doctrine, or a com- 
plete exposition of the Church. There are many 
such manuals, which should be read by any who 
wish a full statement. 

To those who desire to gain a better knowledge 
of the Episcopal Church, I venture to offer a sug- 
gestion. Attend, for a time, the services of the 
Church with an effort to understand them. No 
great spiritual forces in actual operation can be 
understood and appreciated by study alone, 
without the corrective and broadening influ- 
ences of experience in contact with those forces. 
A great book must be read to be appreciated. 
The critics can never give an adequate presenta- 
tion of its charm and power. Appreciation of 
the Church is likewise a matter of experience. 
It is certainly worth time and effort to gain some 
knowledge of the Mother Church of the English 
speaking people. The services are not so in- 
volved as many imagine. An hour's careful ex- 
amination of the Prayer Book will make them 
plain. The Prayer Book itself should be in every 
home. Next to the Bible it has been the book of 
greatest influence in moulding the religious life 
of our race. 

The Church always welcomes the inquirer, 
and its ministers are ready to give him instruc- 



PREFACE 

tion. The Church likewise asks no repudiation 
or distrust of one's previous religious persua- 
sions. But with its greater experience, extend- 
ing through many generations, corrected and en- 
riched by its comprehensive contact with multi- 
tudes of lives, it supplements and enlarges the 
religious training of those who Gome within its 
portals. 

This book is intended to create a favorable 
opinion of the Church, by an expression of what 
the writer believes to be its true spirit toward 
its people. Nor are these words written in the 
seclusion of an academic cloister, but in the 
study of one who for twenty years has been talk- 
ing with men and w^omen about these subjects. 

May I explain the literary form into which 
these simple talks are cast? I have adopted this 
method of a conversation among friends because 
it permits of more flexible presentation of the 
subject. It is the natural method of the teacher. 
Every statement has been as carefully weighed, 
however, as if it were part of a treatise. 

My only hope in presenting this book is that 
it will not be understood as a complete 
treatise but that it will help to remove the ap- 
parent obstacles in the minds of those to whom 
the Episcopal Church is extending a welcome. 

George Parkin Atwater. 

Marvin Parish Hou^ 

St. Andrew's Day 

1917 



Contents 



Page. 

I. The Church and Public Worship 1 

II. The Active Worship of the People 18 

III. The Prayer Book and Public Wor- 

ship 32 

IV. Baptism and Church Membership 48 

V. The Apostles' Creed.... 63 

VI. The Holy Communion 82 

VII. The Historic Ministry 97 

VIII. The History of the Church 110 

IX- The Background of Worship 124 

X. The Christian Year 138 

XI. The Church and Men of Today 153 

XII. The Appeal of Religion to Men 169 



" No complex or very important truth was ever trans- 
ferred in full development from one mind to another; 
truth of that character is ' not a piece of furniture to he 
shifted; it is a seed which must he sown^ and pass through 
the several stages of growth. No doctrine of importance 
can he transferred in a matured shape into any man's 
understanding from without : it mu^t arise hy an act of 
genesis within the understanding itself.'' 

— De Quincey. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

ITS MESSAGE FOR MEN OF TODAY 
CHAPTER I. 

THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

"Well, Rector," exclaimed the Doctor, as 
he stood before the fire in the Rector's study, "I 
went to church last Sunday." 

This was not exactly news, for the Rector had 
noticed him there and was prepared for a dis- 
cussion of the event. 

"Rravo!" called out the Judge, who as 
Senior Warden of the parish occupied the most 
comfortable chair. "Hear that. Major," ad- 
dressing the fourth man present who was glanc- 
ing at the books which lined the walls. 

"I saw him there," replied the Major without 
looking around. "Didn't hurt you a bit, did it. 
Doctor?" he asked quietly as he took down a 
rather worn volume entitled "Fishing as a Fine 
Art." 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

The Doctor laughed. "Temperature normal, 
heart action regular," he replied. 

The Rector kept quiet for the moment. These 
four men were warm friends who often gathered 
in the Rector's study to enjoy each other's 
company and to discuss the score of things that 
interest men. The Judge was a sturdy Church- 
man, loyal, and ever thoughtful for the Church's 
good. The Major was an alert, practical man, 
with a tendency to judge methods by results. 
The Doctor was a keen man of exact training, 
with a respect for religion, but with little knowl- 
edge of it except remnants of early memories 
in a rather rigid congregation. 

"Had you ever attended an Episcopal Church 
before?" finally asked the Rector. 

"Never," answered the Doctor cheerfully. 
"It was a new experience. I have been to 
plenty of others," he added, as if defending him- 
self against a charge of total neglect. 

"Now, Doctor," continued the Judge with a 
more serious inflection in his voice, "You have 
a chance to make a real contribution to our fund 
of knowledge. I should like very much to know 
the impressions of a mature man in his first at- 
tendance at an Episcopal Church." 

The Doctor hesitated a moment. "It is not 
exactly as if I had a novel experience," he ex- 

2 



THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

plained, "because I have had some idea of what 
to expect and likewise I have had some notions, 
perhaps you may call them prejudices, about 
the Episcopal Church. They are, perhaps, not 
founded on reliable information but they seem 
to prevail among persons like myself who have 
been reared in a different atmosphere. These 
came to mind during the service." 

"Did the service, and your experience in it, 
confirm your notions?" asked the Major, 
putting down his book and drawing up a chair 
to the fireside. 

"Not exactly," replied the Doctor, "but, at 
the same time, the notions were not entirely 
banished." 

"Suppose you tell us your impressions," sug- 
gested the Rector, "both the favorable and the 
unfavorable ones, and then later let us take 
stock of the notions." 

The Doctor laughed. "Is this a conspiracy 
to make me unburden my rather meagre knowl- 
edge of religion?" he asked. 

"Not at all. Doctor," declared the Judge, 
"but I am under the impression that we who 
are accustomed to the Church do not fully 
realize the difficulties that confront those who 
come to the Church for the first time. A frank 
statement from you would give us an idea of 

3 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

what we ought to do to make the practices of 
the Church clear." 

"In that case," answered the Doctor, "I shall 
be frank. I am inclined on general grounds to 
like the Church, but it is difficult for me to un- 
derstand it entirely. I went last Sunday with 
good intentions. As soon as I entered and had 
been in the pew for a few minutes I realized that 
the atmosphere was different from many a 
church I had attended. The people who entered 
early did not sit and talk with each other. They 
were reverent. That impressed me very much, 
and favorably." 

"They were in the House of God," said the 
Judge simply. "We never use the church for 
any purpose except the services, and our people 
are accustomed to reverence. It is the Temple 
of God twenty-four hours a day and whenever 
one enters it he feels that it is devoted to a 
sacred purpose." 

"The attitude of the people clearly indicated 
that," was the Doctor's comment. "I noticed, 
too, that most of the people kneeled a moment in 
prayer when they entered the pews. That m.ade 
me somewhat uncomfortable for I had not done 
so and I didn't want to seem conspicuous." 

"Just a moment," interrupted the Rector. 
"I wish to make the emphatic statement that the 

4 



THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

Church welcomes visitors, strangers, and new- 
comers, to our services. We are glad to have 
them come. They may take part in the service, 
or not, just as they wish. They may stand and 
kneel, or not, as they wish. They need not feel 
conspicuous, as our people understand the situa- 
tion fully. They need not feel embarrassed. 
Probably most of the people in the church have 
been new-comers at some time and they sympa- 
thize with the initial difficulties of the stranger. 
Come on your own terms. Doctor." 

"Well, that is certainly satisfactory and FU 
feel better next time." 

"You see, we old timers," added the Judge, 
"find the habits of the Church second nature, 
but we want people to come because we respect 
them, and not because of their habits of wor- 
ship." 

"Why did the people kneel?" asked the Doc- 
tor directly. 

"To prepare their minds for the service," 
replied the Rector, "and to ask a blessing upon 
all who are to take part in it." 

"To try to disconnect their thoughts from au- 
tomobiles, golf hazards, and Sunday dinner," 
added the Major in a low voice. 

The Rector laughed. The Major was accus- 
tomed to state things in a blunt way. It was 

5 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

good to hear a layman's frank statement. It 
seemed to take a certain unreality from the dis- 
cussion of religious things. 

"Good idea," added the Doctor. "After that 
my impressions were more general. The next 
thing that struck me was that you didn't sing 
meaningless hymns. I read one or two. 
They are good poetry, even without music." 

"The best the market affords," commented the 
Major drily. "Too many good hymns to waste 
time on the poor ones. Religion has ever been 
indebted to inspiring music." 

"There were some other good impressions," 
admitted the Doctor candidly. "But on the 
whole I failed to see the general trend of it all. 
To be perfectly frank I was in the presence of 
a public worship that was cloudy. In the first 
place I did not understand why you wore vest- 
ments, and why the choir wore vestments; why 
there was so much standing and kneeling, why 
you had so many colored hangings about, why 
you read so much out of your Prayer Book and 
indeed why you use a Prayer Book at all. It 
looked to me like a complicated way to worship, 
with more attention paid to forms than to the 
real purpose of the occasion." 

"That brings us to the fundamentals. Doc- 
tor," replied the Rector, "If you will permit, 

6 



THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

let us pass by the particular things for a moment 
and try to understand the principles that govern 
the methods of our worship." 

"That's getting to fundamentals," commented 
the Major, settling back to listen. "No sermon, 
however," he cautioned. 

"Plain common sense, I hope," the Rector 
assured him. "To understand the public wor- 
ship of the Episcopal Church, you must grasp 
three principles. They will serve to interpret 
practically all of its practices and habits. You 
may not approve of these principles but at any 
rate you can understand that the Church has 
reason for adhering to them. These principles 
of the Church are the basis of its practices. 

"The first principle is that the Church at- 
tempts to appeal to the eye as well as to the ear." 

"Modern educational method," put in the 
Major. "Visit a school room today. Pictures, 
maps, charts, cubes, squares, and diagrams. 
Flowers too." 

"The eye is one of the gateways of knowl- 
edge," continued the Rector. "Many of our 
great arts are appeals to the eye. All architec- 
ture and painting are addressed to the eye. The 
Church has for a thousand years or more at- 
tempted to instruct the people by education 
through the eye. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"For that reason our churches are furnished 
so that each great function of the Church has 
some article of furniture which constantly sug- 
gests that function. Why did you hang out a 
flag before your office last Fourth of July?" 
questioned the Rector. 

"Patriotic," said the Doctor, smiling. 

"An appeal to the eye," declared the Rector. 
"The flag has no voice, and no words are on it. 
Yet it speaks and proclaims love of country and 
loyalty. Every time we see the flag it stirs us 
with the thought that our fathers died for it, and 
we are to live for it. The flag is a great 
teacher. 

"So the Church erects an Altar in the most 
conspicuous place in the chancel to remind the 
people constantly that what takes place at the 
Altar is a service of Christ's own institution. 
We place a cross upon the Altar to remind them, 
and indeed to teach them, that Christ died upon 
the cross for the sins of the whole world. It is 
our flag." 

"I can see that," admitted the Doctor, "but 
why the flowers and the candles? Are they mere 
decorations?" 

"Not at all. The flowers symbolize the joy of 
religion. Some people think that religious serv- 
ices are gloomy and joyless. Too many people 



THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

get their impression of the main emphasis of 
religion from funerals. They think that religion 
is to teach men how to die. Inasmuch as you are 
healthy it does not appeal particularly. But 
religion is to teach one how to live. Life should 
be filled with joy." 

"But my garden may teach me that," sug- 
gested the Doctor. 

"True. But the flowers, on the Altar beside 
the Cross, are to teach that the joy of life is 
closely connected with the fact that Christ died 
for men. 

"So too the candles. They' teach that Christ 
is the light of the world in His human and divine 
natures. Our religion is not darkness but light. 
It lights our pathway." 

"I think I see," said the Doctor seriously. 
"Your Altar then is like a great picture which 
sets forth the religious teachings of the 
Church." 

"Exactly," affirmed the Rector. "It is a 
teaching picture. But it is more than that. The 
service of the Altar is intended to bring the 
Power of the Cross, the Joy symbolized in the 
flowers, and the Light, symbolized by the can- 
dles, into the lives of men." 

"I thought the sermon did that," was the 
Doctor's comment. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"The sermon instructs, interprets, stimu- 
lates — " began the Rector. 

"If it is not too long," commented the Major 
with a glance at the Rector. 

"Exactly," asserted the Rector. "We need 
more than the sermon however. We need 
variety of impression to maintain attention. 
The Church teaches when men are silent." 

"Did you ever go, alone, into an Episcopal 
Church?" asked the Judge. 

"No, I think not. Why should I?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"It would be a good experience," replied the 
Judge. "The peculiar thing about it is that it 
never seems empty. I have sometimes sat for 
half an hour in our church to allow the church to 
teach me. Somehow the absence of people does 
not make the church seem lonely or bare. The 
Altar seems to stir up memories and resolutions. 
The whole effect is as a voice speaking to the 
soul. There is no actual sound, but one seems 
to be listening to a great organ played by 
some invisible organist. In the midst of the 
rush and turmoil of this day every man would 
find it a valuable practice to spend an occasional 
half hour in our church and recall to himself 
the deeper duties of life." 

"And think on his sins," added the Major. 

10 



THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

"Quite SO," said the Judge, "especially when 
we find the world ready to encourage our sins." 

The Doctor was clearly impressed. "I 
thought churches were for public gatherings," 
he said quietly. 

"They are," agreed the Judge, "but they 
are likewise for individual edification. The 
mistake you may make about the Episcopal 
Church is in thinking that it is an organization 
having as its object public assemblies, in which 
a general effort is made to promote goodness. It 
is more than that. It is a great Mother who 
teaches you so impressively that its influence 
and control endure throughout the week. The 
idea of righteousness and the idea of salvation 
are often too abstract. The Church is the em- 
bodiment of these ideas. You know the spirit of 
college?" asked the Judge. 

"Class of 1905," said the Doctor. "Best col- 
lege on earth." 

"That's loyalty," affirmed the Judge. "The 
college stands for education. Its activities tend 
toward the development of the student. It ex- 
presses great ideas and trains men in a score 
of ways. Do you keep your old text-books?" 

"Shelf full of them," confessed the Doctor. 

"Pretty dry now, aren't they?" questioned 
the Judge. "Yet they have the heart of the 

11 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

substance of your education in them. But it 
was the college that made those books live. 
You were part of all that. So the Church is a 
great living organization to which loyalty and 
love and devotion respond. You are proud of 
it, and you carry the thought of it with you con- 
stantly. On days when services are held the 
people come to pledge anew their faith, to re- 
fresh their devotion, to learn more, and to 
quicken their spiritual life. They come not as 
chance spectators of a service, or accidental 
listeners to a moral lecture, but as part of the 
whole body of the Church." 

"That's a fine ideal," admitted the Doctor, 
"but the Church never impressed me in that 
way." 

"You have misunderstood it," said the Judge 
simply. "It is our spiritual home. So we keep 
it orderly and furnish it gloriously. We like 
that picture of the Altar and the Cross, even 
as you like the warmth and glow of your hearth- 
stone. The hearthstone has symbolized all that 
is lovely and enduring in the life of the family, 
its joys as well as its duties." 

"And does that explain the other features of 
your church furnishings?" asked the Doctor. 

"It does. The Judge has exactly expressed 
it," said the Rector. "We furnish the Church 

12 



THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

for instruction, for usefulness, and for the 
general atmosphere. We have a Font, near the 
entrance, to symbolize the fact that Baptism is 
the entrance to the Household of God. The Pul- 
pit indicates the teaching and preaching func- 
tions. The Lectern, on which rests the Bible, 
indicates the reverence paid to the Bible. And 
the prayer desk and choir stalls are for the min- 
istry of prayer and praise." 

"That brings me to another question," said 
the Doctor. "Why do the minister and choir 
wear vestments?" 

Both the Rector and the Major began to re- 
ply- 

"To show their ministry of prayer and 

praise," began the Rector. 

"Democratic!" urged the Major. 

"That brings us to the second underlying 
principle of the Church," interrupted the Rec- 
tor. "The Episcopal Church is democratic. 
The world over it serves all sorts and condi- 
tions of men. It has the same services and 
ministers in the same way to rich and 
poor, fortunate and unfortunate. It brings the 
universal spiritual satisfactions to the universal 
needs of our common human nature," 

"But how are vested choirs democratic?" 
asked the Doctor. 

13 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"Nothing so democratic as a uniform," an- 
swered the Major. "Variety in uniform shows 
distinctive duties, but all uniforms are demo- 
cratic. One minister is not clothed in fine broad- 
cloth and another in homespun. All wear the 
simple vestments of their rank. Choristers 
too! Many a person would be kept out of a 
choir by lack of proper clothes if choirs were 
not in uniform. Nothing so distracting as a 
mixed choir in a denominational church. 
Twentj^ different kinds of hats, as many kinds 
of cravats. Whole scheme of unvested choirs 
too formal and aristocratic. Our method much 
simpler and democratic. Admits persons who 
would be excluded if fine clothes were a require- 
ment." 

"That is so," granted the Doctor. "Curi- 
ously, I had the opposite impression. I 
thought the vested choir was the height of form 
and very aristocratic." 

"All wrong," affirmed the Major. "Most dem- 
ocratic scheme for singers ever devised. No 
form whatsoever. Just a band of plain people, 
properly garbed, singing the praises of God in 
the Church. Most reverent too. Nothing so 
irreverent as finery in the Church. Too dis- 
tracting. Too self-approving." 

"I once sang bass in a chorus choir," said the 

14 



THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC V/ORSHIP 

Doctor, laughing. "I left when the tenor got a 
new suit." 

"Exactly," said the Major. "Uncomfort- 
able, eh?" 

"Just beginning to practice medicine and had 
too few patients. No new suit for me !" 

"Your choir was too aristocratic," was the 
Major's final comment. 

"That opens up the subject of the general sen- 
sitiveness of human beings," began the Judge. 
"They are just as sensitive in their spiritual na- 
tures. You like to have your patients in a cheer- 
ful room, do you not. Doctor?" 

"Surely. Most necessary!" answered the 
Doctor. 

"The Church likewise desires to impress the 
people with the cheerfulness of religion. But 
you do administer medicine. Doctor." 

"It helps," was the Doctor's comment. 

"The Church must administer its truth and 
healing power, too. It has proper seasons for 
every phase of its teaching. We use different 
colors to suggest the general nature of the sea- 
son. Last Sunday we used white. It is the 
symbolic color of joy. We use also purple, green 
and red. Each is suggestive of the particular 
truths which are being impressed in lesson and 
sermon. Nature has taught us that art." 

15 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"You can't go far wrong in following Na- 
ture," said the Doctor, 

"Quite right. And human nature too. Those 
who think the Episcopal Church is artificial are 
entirely mistaken. It is as natural as Nature 
herself. The Church through long experience 
has learned what human nature craves. Beauty, 
warm associations, pleasant environment, gra- 
cious clinging memories, forms of sound words, 
bright pictures for the mind, suggestions of 
spiritual mysteries, acts of personal worship, 
habits of reverence, a consciousness of a great 
Household in which cluster great ideals, the 
knowledge of the riches of the past brought to 
the heart of the present; all these things make 
the abiding impressions that fill the worshipper 
with feelings that never depart. The member of 
the Episcopal Church who feels these things 
never leaves this household. Religion to him 
would seem barren, ever after, without the riches 
and associations of the Church to enforce the 
lessons and deepen his sense of spiritual 
things." 

"I have heard of one other general impression 
of your Church which I wish to ask about. 
Some people think it is like the Roman Catholic. 
In what respect does it differ?" 

"It is difiicult. Doctor, to deal with that objec- 

16 



THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC V/ORSHIP 

tion in a word. That impression arises largely 
from pure prejudice. But the main points of 
difference are these. We have a different or- 
ganization. There is no papacy to which we owe 
allegiance. We differ in doctrine and in wor- 
ship. We differ in the kinds of spiritual exer- 
cise provided for our people, having no compul- 
sory confession. We differ in the intellectual 
and moral freedom guaranteed to our people. 

"It is true that the Roman Church has historic 
continuity from Apostolic days, and has an 
active type of worship, with teaching through 
the eye. But this latter method, far from being 
objectionable, is highly desirable, and is not the 
real ground for the objections of many to the 
Roman Catholic Church. Do you not know that 
most lodges and fraternal orders have a ritual 
and so called 'forms' that far outstrip in their 
elaborateness the Episcopal Church? Men enjoy 
these things when they understand them. I 
never heard a member of a fraternal order call 
his organization like the Roman Catholic 
Church, because the officers wore uniforms and 
the lodge used regalia." 

"You certainly have given me something to 
think about," said the Doctor. "I shall be there 
next Sunday to try it once more in the light of 
^vhat you have said." 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ACTIVE WORSHIP OF THE PEOPLE. 

"Well, I went to church again," said the 
Doctor, as if challenged, when the four friends 
had gathered for their weekly conference in the 
Rector's study. 

"Get the habit!" suggested the Major. "Hab- 
its are great supports to life. They relieve the 
mind of a vast amount of strain." 

"Some habits do," admitted the Doctor. 

"I am speaking of habits of which we ap- 
prove," replied the Major with a trace of humor 
in his voice. "The trouble with most people is 
that they begin every Saturday night to decide 
whether or not they will go to church Sunday. 
It is always an open question. They struggle 
with it on Sunday morning, until the mind is 
worn out with perplexity. Any chance occur- 
rence comes in to turn the scale. A visitor, a late 
morning paper, a failure to consult the clock, a 
flat tire, a dozen little things, determine the de- 
cision adversely. Habit would overcome all 
this." 

18 



THE ACTIVE WORSHIP OF THE PEOPLE 

"You are quite a philosopher, Major," asserted 
the Doctor. 

"Not at all. Onlj^ an observer. It is never an 
open question as to whether or not a man will 
go to his business on Monday morning, even if 
he might remain away or be late. His decision 
about that has been niade once for all. Habit 
does the rest. Nothing is so satisfactory and so 
beneficial as to let habit carry you on. People 
torture themselves by indecision. A course of 
action, firmly established, would relieve them 
of countless mental confusions. 

"So you think church-going can become a 
habit?" asked the Doctor. 

"Nothing easier!" affirmed the Major. 
"Never let it be an open question, never let a 
Saturday night's indecision or a Sunday morn- 
ing's wavering disturb you. Just get up and go." 

"That's a good thing," said the Doctor, "if you 
are certain that you want to go." 

"Why shouldn't you want to go?" asked the 
practical Major. 

"That's too big a question to answer in gen- 
eral," replied the Doctor. "I wanted to go last 
Sunday and I went. I wanted to see the church 
in the light of our discussion last week." 

"We should be glad to hear your conclusions," 
said the Judge. 

19 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"I am hardly ready to pronounce judgment, 
most learned Judge," parried the Doctor. "I 
believe that your view of the Church is the result 
of more experience than is afforded by attend- 
ance at two services." 

"Quite so!" admitted the Judge. "But that 
is true of every valuable thing in the mental or 
spiritual life. The Episcopal Church must not 
be judged by casual observation and its wealth 
cannot be appreciated by casual attendance. To 
appreciate it you must become accustomed to 
it. But it is worth the time and the effort." 

"I found that what you had said modified my 
point of view and removed certain prejudices 
against the Church," admitted the Doctor, "but 
some new difficulties arose as others vanished," 
and he glanced at the Rector. 

"Be perfectly frank," urged the Rector. "If 
you think that I do not understand that there 
are difficulties, you are mistaken. Moreover I 
have learned more from men's difficulties than 
you can imagine. I wish that you men would get 
over the notion that you are going to shock a 
clergyman by your difficulties. You should give 
him a chance by being frank. If you would 
realize that the clergyman respects sincere men 
and respects their difficulties, it would bring 
them closer together. Men who think that a 

20 



THE ACTIVE WORSHIP OF THE PEOPLE 

clergyman is going to brand them as unbelievers, 
or anything else, because they have honest opin- 
ions, or that he will overwhelm them with re- 
fined abuse, are sadly unaware of the desire of 
a clergyman to talk things over. Give us your 
opinion. Doctor, and let us reason together as 
friends. This is not a debate in which we must 
win, but a 'diplomatic conversation' in which we 
may get a better point of view." 

"In that case, here goes," asserted the Doctor. 
"Last Sunday I was under the impression that 
your service was too formal. I did not see why 
you should use the book so much, and why you 
should rise and kneel so often." 

The Rector was silent for a moment. Neither 
the Judge nor the Major came to his aid. It 
was an old question but one that all felt to be 
important. 

"Let us take things in their order, and get 
down to the fundamental principles," began the 
Rector. "Do you remember the young woman in 
Arnold Bennett's play who asked a scientist who 
mentioned specific gravity, *Now what is specific 
gravity, in a word?' " 

Everyone laughed. The Doctor nodded his 
head. 

"It takes more than a word to make clear the 
principle of worship of the Episcopal Church. 

21 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

If you are prepared for several words, then I 
can explain." 

"Please proceed," requested the Doctor. 

"There are two types of human beings," said 
the Rector, "the active and the passive types. 
Every educational effort shows the influence of 
these two types. There are people who are more 
edified by lectures which they receive and think 
over, and there are others who are more bene- 
fited by teaching and reciting. The latter 
method gives a readiness to the habit of express- 
ing and stating what they have learned." 

"You can learn more quickly by attempting 
to teach than in any other way," put in the prac- 
tical Major. 

"These two general tendencies have always 
had an influence in religion and have deter- 
mined in one way or another the methods of 
public worship," continued the Rector. "The 
extreme of the passive type is the quiet mysti- 
cism of the Quakers, and a very good type it is, 
in this clamorous day. 

"The extreme of the active type is the camp 
meeting, which is not so admirable. 

"Various churches emphasize this active type, 
but most of those with which you are familiar 
are of the pronounced passive kind. The con- 
gregation assembles, and then, relaxing into a 

22 



THE ACTIVE WORSHIP OF THE PEOPLE 

state of passiveness, listens. It is true that they 
do sing a hymn or two as a concession to the 
other instinct, but for the rest of the service they 
listen, first to a prayer and then to a sermon." 

The Major here broke in. "I have a high re- 
gard for my brethren of other churches, but 
when I attend their service I find myself slowly 
becoming someone else, a sort of unusual self, 
under a kind of restraint, with an unnatural 
pressure about my mind and heart. I have felt 
that way at funerals. It is as if for a moment I 
had put aside my true self, and were merely en- 
gaged in being silently present at a function in 
which it was highly improper to intrude a 
thought or action or emotion of my own. 
I seemed to contribute nothing except an 
impassive countenance and a hearing ear. 
I felt like a judge who was taking an im- 
partial survey of the occasion but who gave no 
evidence of his feelings. It was a relief when 
they passed the plate. I could do something 
then." 

"Weren't you silently joining in the service?" 
asked the Doctor. 

"Yes, but there was afforded no opportunity 
to assert myself. I felt as if I were forbidden to 
salute when the flag passed, or to arise when the 
national air was played. There was nothing to 

23 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

give me a chance to declare my faith, or to ex- 
press my emotions." 

"I hope you made the collection a sufficient op- 
portunity to show the depth of your approval," 
suggested the Judge with a twinkle in his eye. 

"Trust me," said the generous Major. "I never 
had any sympathy for the man who thought he 
was exempt from that responsibility. But let the 
Rector go on." 

"The Episcopal Church, while it gives large 
opportunity for quiet and searching meditation, 
emphasizes the active type of worship. The 
Church feels that the people need the oppor- 
tunity of expressing their repentance, their grati- 
tude, their faith, their praises, their prayers. 
Nothing drives an idea or emotion inward so ef- 
fectively as to express it outwardly. A singer 
understands that and is more affected by a great 
song than any of the auditors. That, plus a 
voice, makes great singing. To utter your faith, 
to give it words, drives it into your soul. To ex- 
press it is to bring an emotion, a spiritual state, 
into the light, so that its roots may grow with the 
energy absorbed from without." 

"That's true," asserted the Doctor, "but how 
does it apply to your service?" 

"You need only follow the service to see that 
it provides for the outward expression of every 

24 



THE ACTIVE V/ORSHIP OF THE PEOPLE 

religious emotion of the worshippers. They are 
not a group of people gathered to hear, an audi- 
ence, but a group of people gathered to partici- 
pate, a congregation. They, and not the min- 
ister, perform the act of worship. He is but the 
leader, the director. The worship ranges 
through every need of the soul, and for each 
need there is some corresponding expression. 

"For this reason our people stand during cer- 
tain parts of the service. Standing is the natural 
attitude during praise. We sit during instruc- 
tion and kneel for prayer. To sit during an en- 
tire service is to allow the passive side of one's 
nature to predominate. But worship is an active 
participation in the expressive acts of the serv- 
ice. The attitude of the body reinforces and 
Stimulates the attitude of the mind. The people 
participate in the worship. They are not a body 
of listeners." 

"It is like the difference between singing in a 
great chorus and merely hearing a solo," added 
the Judge. 

"If you were a baseball player, which would 
you rather do," asked the Major, "play in a game 
or watch a game?" 

The Doctor laughed. "I see the point. Td 
rather play in the game." 

"Exactly. And I think you will find that you 

25 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

would rather participate in worship than merely 
attend it,'' added the Major. 

"Many a church whose worship is of the pas- 
sive type has felt this need," continued the 
Rector, "and they have tried to meet it by music 
of the emotional kind. But their chief admis- 
sion of the need is the institution of the prayer 
meeting in which the people find opportunity 
for expression. That is intended to correct the 
passive character of public worship." 

"But do you mean to say that the benefits of 
the prayer meeting are found in your worship?" 

"The two are not exactly alike, but the desire 
for self-expression that is provided for by the 
prayer meeting is met every Sunday by the 
service of the Episcopal Church." 

"But no one prays individually?" 

"Oh, yes, indeed. Each one does. The only 
difference is that each one does it without laying 
bare his individual experience to the gaze of 
others. There is the utmost individuality in the 
public worship and yet the privilege of privacy. 
This is most desirable, because real spirituality 
is of such a nature that only very rarely does an 
open expression of spiritual experience prove of 
benefit to others. But in the public worship of 
the Episcopal Church each one may express the 
needs of his heart. If he comes to get the bene- 



THE ACTIVE WORSHIP OF THE PEOPLE 

fit to the full, he comes conscious of the presence 
of God and the relation of his own soul to God. 
He brings his sins, his needs, his hopes, his grati- 
tudes, his supplications, his faith. If he does not 
he is passing by a vital experience of life. There, 
in an act of repentance, he pours his sins before 
God, in an act of praise he utters his gratitude. 
So with every phase of it. Each soul lives 
through a vital experience before God, and has 
opportunity in the most impressive and exalted 
way to give expression to his own worship." 

"Do you mean that that is what church-going 
is for?" asked the Doctor, slightly puzzled. 

"Precisely. What did you think it was for?" 

"Well, I had not stopped to analyze it very 
much. I had rather thought of the sermon as 
the chief thing." 

"The sermon has its place, to be sure. To the 
heart prepared by w^orship the sermon comes 
to guide, to enlighten, to stimulate. The trouble 
with too many sermons is that neither the heart 
nor the mind of the hearer is prepared for them. 
If the sermon prompts to repentance and to 
prayer it seems unreal unless the church pro- 
vides opportunity in public worship for the 
hearer to give expression to them. I know that 
you will say that repentance ought to reveal it- 
self in acts and in conduct. True. The sermon 

27 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

and the worship together give the spiritual stim- 
ulus to acts and to conduct. Each supplies a 
necessary element to the religious life, but the 
sermon must not be confused with the worship." 

"Then it isn't enough that people just go to 
church," said the Doctor. "They ought to be" — 
here he hesitated for a word — "they ought to be 
involved in it." 

"Exactly," affirmed the Major, "that's the 
word. Many go who are not involved." 

"I was tempted last Sunday evening to a 
church which held out as an attraction a whis- 
tling quartette. I am afraid I didn't go to wor- 
ship." 

"Such a perversion of worship is not worthy," 
pronounced the Judge. "It may attract crowds, 
but it cheapens religion. The practice of re- 
ligion ought to be simple, intelligible, and even 
popular, in the best sense of that word, but it 
does not consist in attracting crowds by a prom- 
ise of novelty or entertainment." 

"But the stranger unfamiliar with your wor- 
ship has no chance. He does not know what to 
do," urged the Doctor. 

"But he may learn," replied the Rector. "It is 
not so difficult as you imagine. Every accom- 
plishment is the result of practice. You could not 
play in an orchestra by merely owning a violin. 



THE ACTIVE WORSHIP OF THE PEOPLE 

Every art is the result of effort. Worship is a 
great art. One must become skilled in it. The 
first step is to know the methods and to become 
familiar with the Prayer Book. This is quite 
easy. A very little attention and the instruction 
which every Church provides will do this. 

"The next step is more difficult. It is to grasp 
what the worship is intended for, and how you 
may spiritually take part in it. That requires 
knowledge and experience. But it is supremely 
worth while. 

"When one grasps only the idea that the peo- 
ple read a few pages from a book, then he 
charges the Church with formalism." 

"That's what I did exactly," admitted the Doc- 
tor. "It seemed a form." 

"That's a very superficial judgment. The Epis- 
copal Church cares nothing for forms as such. 
That which seems a form is merely a framework 
which supports the substance of worship. The 
worship is like a great oratorio, in which each 
attendant has a part. Each musician, however, 
in an orchestra has a score with the notes upon 
it. If he recites the notes as do-re-me it would 
be formal, tiresome and without interest. But 
he plays them. That gives inspiring music. So 
the worshipper fills the forms with feeling, 
aspiration, hopes, prayer, and praise." 

29 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"But does not that mean a height of worship 
to which the ordinary man cannot reach?" 

"Not at all. Every man living may share to 
some extent in the oratorio of worship. He may 
not always analyze and dissect it, but the sub- 
stance of it will inspire him. And what you call 
the forms merely direct, suggest, stimulate, and 
guide. We have no use for forms as such." 

"Then you believe in educating the people in 
appreciation of the substance of worship?" 

"Why not? It is a most vital matter. We send 
our children to school, then to college, and often 
to universities, that they may enlarge their 
mental outlook. Is it not worth while to train 
the people to use their spiritual powers to the 
utmost?" 

"Will the service of the Church do that?" 
asked the Doctor. 

"No," asserted the Rector, "no more than the 
text books will educate you. You must co- 
operate. The service is a means, not an end. 
It is a method, not a result. But every Sunday 
and every service is a step in the process. Our 
text book is the Book of Common Prayer." 

"That suggests another difficulty," said the 
Doctor. "Why do you use the Book of Common 
Prayer?" 

"That brings us to the third principle under- 

30 



THE ACTIVE WORSHIP OF THE PEOPLE 

lying our practice," replied the Rector. "But it 
is too late to begin tonight. If you care to come 
again, I'll try to make it plain." 

"ni be here again," asserted the Doctor, as 
they left. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PRAYER BOOK AND PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

The following week the Doctor was the first 
to arrive at the Rector's study. He found the 
Rector busy for a few minutes and he spent the 
time examining the books upon the shelves. Oc- 
casionally he took one from its place and turned 
over the pages. At last the Rector was ready to 
talk. 

"I have been looking at your books," said the 
Doctor. "They interest me. Men have given 
religion a good deal of study, haven't they? I 
never realized that there were so many books 
dealing with this subject." 

"Religion has been the study of man since 
man began to think," replied the Rector. "There 
have been a thousand books written for each one 
I have on these shelves." 

"But to what purpose?" asked the Doctor. 
"We seem as confused about it as were primi- 
tive men." 

"That is because you have never taken the 

32 



THE PRAYER BOOK AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

trouble to study the subject. Medicine seems 
chaos to me, yet I suspect that the science of 
medicine has made progress and has reached 
some definite conclusions." 

"You may be sure that it has," replied the Doc- 
tor, "but we have the experience and practice of 
the ages to rest upon." 

"So have we," parried the Rector. "And we 
have reached some conclusions that are quite 
as worth while as yours." 

"I thought every church and almost every 
minister developed his own views," said the 
Doctor. 

"If that were not the statement of a grown 
man I should call it childish," laughed the Rec- 
tor. "If religion were merely the sum total of 
each man's guesses, surmises, and views, it 
would be of no more importance than the 
guesses of a child about the moon. The Chris- 
tian religion is a revelation of God through 
Christ, verified to us by experience, study and 
practice." 

*'Why is it not written down in black and 
white for the plain man?" demanded the Doctor. 

"It is," asserted the Rector. "There, your 
hand is on the book now." 

The Doctor took it from the shelf and read, 
"The Book of Common Prayer." 

33 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"Oh," he exclaimed, "I thought that was a 
book of services for church." 

"It is, but it is more. It is a manual of re- 
ligion. It contains the fundamentals of the 
Christian Faith. It is a summary of the teach- 
ings of the Bible and an exposition of the doc- 
trines of Christianity. It contains all that a 
Christian need believe to his soul's health." 

"But you use it in Church as a service book." 

"We do indeed, and it is the most important 
religious book in the English language, except 
the Bible." 

The Doctor looked at it again and turned the 
pages. 

"I see that it contains a good many things," 
was his comment. "But just now I am most 
interested in the question I proposed last week. 
Why do you use the Prayer Book in worship?" 

At this point the Judge and the Major entered. 
The Judge had heard the question and with a 
nod to the Rector, he at once began to answer 
the question. 

"So you are at it again, Doctor. I would like 
to answer your question by asking another. 
What is public worship ?" 

"As I said once before. Judge, before you three 
entered this open conspiracy to enlighten me, 
I always thought that public worship was sing- 

34 



THE PRAYER BOOK AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

ing a few hymns, listening to a prayer and hear- 
ing a sermon." 

The Judge was serious. "Would you believe 
me, Doctor, if I should tell you that that is not 
public worship in the full historic sense of that 
term?" 

"That's public attendance at the private wor- 
ship of the minister," put in the Major. 

The Rector protested. "Don't put it in that 
way, Major. It's a fashion of public worship, 
very modern and quite unlike the worship of 
the ages. It is not what we feel to be sufficient." 

"What is worship then?" demanded the Doc- 
tor. 

"It is the common worship of the people, with 
the effort to express five great phases of the re- 
ligious life," began the Judge. "From the 
earliest days public worship has developed as a 
great drama of common experience. It has five 
elements: repentance, prayer, praise, faith, 
and instruction. Moreover, it is a participa- 
tion in the great wealth of spiritual power which 
our Lord intrusted to His Church." 

"But why the Prayer Book?" insisted the 
Doctor. 

"That brings us to our third principle, which 
is that the Episcopal Church provides for the 
participation of the people in public worship. 

35 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

When people come together to share in a 
service there must be some mode of common 
expression. There must be some pre-arranged 
method for common action. The Prayer Book 
provides the method by which the whole con- 
gregation can share in the experience. Other- 
wise they could not worship at all. Every pub- 
lic worship has some kind of Prayer Book."^ 

"We never had one in the church in which 
I sang," asserted the Doctor. 

"Not this book, perhaps, but another. Did 
you not read a Psalm together?" 

"Yes," admitted the Doctor. 

"Was it not printed somewhere?" asked the 
Judge. 

"In the back of the hymnal." 

"That was a Prayer Book of a sort, the be- 
ginning of one," affirmed the Judge. "When 
the people gave expression to worship they used 
what you call a *form,' printed in the hymnal." 

"They did," said the doctor. 

"So when you sang together, did you not use 
a printed 'form'? Could you imagine the people 
singing without the printed words? The Prayer 
Book bears the same relation to the worship 
that the hymnal does to the singing. 

"Every time the people share in the worship 
they use some sort of a form or pre-arranged 

36 



THE PRAYER BOOK AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

method. The reason we use a Prayer Book is 
that the people may join in the worship." 

"Well, I see that," said the Doctor. "It gives 
the congregation a chance." 

"Exactly," said the Judge. "And it does more. 
It educates them in forms of sound words. It 
enlarges their knowledge and stimulates their 
minds." 

"Where did you get this book?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"It is the product of ages of devotion," an- 
swered the Rector. "Four-fifths of it are the 
words of the Bible. The rest of it is from the 
devotions that by reason of their beauty and 
their spiritual power have endured throughout 
the centuries. It was first compiled in the Eng- 
lish language in the year 1549. It was adapted 
to the use of the Church in America in the year 
1789." 

Here the Rector went to his shelves and took 
down a book. 

"Let me read to you some words of apprecia- 
tion of the Prayer Book, written by men who 
are not members of the Episcopal Church." 

"This is from a Scotch Presbyterian. The 
Prayer Book is the accumulation of the treas- 
ures with which the most diversified experi- 
ence, the most fervent devotion, and the most 

37 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

exalted genius have enriched the worship of 
prayer and praise during fifteen hundred 
years.' " 

"Another Presbyterian says, 'We have never 
doubted that many of the purest flames of de- 
votion that rise from the earth ascend from the 
Altars of the Episcopal Church/" 

"Here is what John Wesley said, *I believe 
that there is no liturgy in the world either in 
ancient or modern language which breathes 
more of solid spiritual, rational piety than the 
Book of Common Prayer.' " 

" *Dr. Adam Clark, the most learned commen- 
tator among Wesley's followers, says: "It is 
the greatest effort of the Reformation, next to 
the translation of the Scriptures into the Eng- 
lish language. As a form of devotion it has no 
equal in any part of the Universal Church of 
God. It is founded on those doctrines which 
contain the sum and essence of Christianity, 
and speaks the language of the sublimest piety, 
and of the most refined devotional feeling. 
Next to the Bible it is the book of my under- 
standing and of my heart." ' " 

" 'The following is from the memoirs of the 
learned Congregationalist, Professor Phelps : 
"The Liturgy of the Episcopal Church has be- 
come very precious to me. The depths of its 

38 



THE PRAYER BOOK AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

meaning, it seems to me, nobody can fathom 
who has not experienced some great sorrow. 
We have lost much in parting with the prayers 
of the old Mother Church; and what have we 
gained in their place? I do not feel in extempo- 
raneous prayer the deep undertone of devotion 
which rings out from the old Collects of the 
Church like the sound of ancient bells. I longed 
for, and prayed for, and worst of all, waited 
for some sublime and revolutionary change 
of heart; and what that was, as a fact of a 
child's experience, I have not the remotest idea. 
If I had been trained in the Episcopal Church, 
I should at the time have been confirmed, and 
entered upon a consciously religious life, 
and grown up into Christian living of the Episco- 
pal type." ' " 

" This is the testimony of another gifted Con- 
gregationalist of this country, the Rev. Thomas 
K. Beecher: "I certify that you rarely hear in 
any church a prayer spoken in English that is 
not indebted to the Prayer Book for some of its 
choicest periods. And further, I doubt whether 
life has in store for any of you an uplift so high, 
or downfall so deep, but that you can find com- 
pany for your soul and fitting words for your 
lips among the treasures of this Book of Com- 
mon Prayer." ' " 

39 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"What you have read is very impressive," 
said the Doctor. "I shall read the Prayer Book 
more carefully. But one thing I am not ac- 
customed to. I do not understand why you use 
written prayers. Are they not too formal and 
rigid?" 

"I presume that one not accustomed to them 
would think them so," admitted the Rector. 
"But we have good reasons for using them. In 
the first place, we must use precomposed 
prayers if the congregation is to take part in 
public worship. I have already touched that 
point." 

"I understand that," said the Doctor, "but that 
does not mean that they are of value in them- 
selves," 

"Quite right," conceded the Rector. "Now I 
do not wish to state that spontaneous prayer is 
not a valuable practice. It is a noble and sin- 
cere method of prayer. But the written prayers 
have both certain advantages in themselves and 
also in public worship. 

"You are falling into the common error, Doc- 
tor, of supposing that there are but two types of 
prayer, the printed prayer of the Prayer Book 
and the spoken prayer. This distinction applies 
merely to the realm of appearance. There are 
really four types of prayer; the precomposed, 

40 



THE PRAYER BOOK AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

written or printed prayer; the precomposed 
memorized prayer; the formal spoken prayer; 
and the spontaneous prayer. 

"The precomposed printed prayer is the 
Prayer Book kind. 

"The precomposed memorized prayer is fre- 
quently used by ministers who appear to be 
using the former kind. They have memorized 
their prayers, often using the Prayer Book. 
Every minister is perfectly at liberty to do this.'* 

"The formal spoken prayer is the sort in which 
the minister adheres to a certain framework but 
varies the words. This is the usual type of 
prayer among those who do not use a Prayer 
Book. Sunday by Sunday it has much the same 
formal structure and outline, with a little variety 
of language. It is the prayer in which set phrases 
occur with frequency. This is actually the most 
formal of all types of prayer. And it has the 
disadvantage of being the prayer of the minister 
alone, not the prayer of the people. 

"The spontaneous prayer is less frequent. In 
it a man prays under the stress of great emotion, 
or need. But since spontaneity is a matter of hu- 
man emotion and not a matter of words, it may 
as quickly find expression in the treasury of 
prayer in the Prayer Book as in any self-chosen 
words." 

41 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"The printed prayers are not less sincere, 
then?" asked the Doctor. 

"Not necessarily so," replied the Rector. "Any 
prayer may be insincere. Sincerity is not in the 
prayer whether written or spoken, but in the 
heart of him who utters it. You may be quite 
as lacking in the spirit of worship in merely 
listening to a prayer as in reading it. It depends 
upon an inner condition that is quite apart from 
the method. 

"Some men have the gift of prayer; others 
have not. There is no greater burden placed 
upon a i»inister than to utter before a congrega- 
tion a prayer that really carries upward the 
hearts and minds of the people." 

"But do the written prayers accomplish that?" 
asked the Doctor. 

"They at least enlist every particle of the 
spiritual energy of the people," said the Rector. 
"They make the act of prayer a positive act of 
the person, rather than a mere act of attention. 
And more than that, they cover every need, every 
aspiration, every sorrow, every hope of human 
life. Every person who attends church comes 
with his particular burden, his especial need. 
The prayers range over every phase of spiritual 
experience. They bring comfort to the sorrow- 
ing, hope to the burdened, courage to the 

4d 



THE PRAYER BOOK AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

tempted, joy to the despondent, and forgiveness 
to the penitent. Everyone who comes to Church 
with sincerity finds in the prayers some message 
to his own soul. The congregation in Church is 
like a group of voyagers on an ocean liner. Each 
is going on a different errand, for a different 
purpose, animated by a different motive. Yet for 
a time they share the same great pathway of an 
ocean voyage and mould their varied purposes 
into one great experience. Our services are like 
that. For a time all sorts and conditions of men 
share a great spiritual voyage in our service, 
in which each finds something which blends with 
his individual purpose. The prayers are so sub- 
lime, so free from any but the highest sanctions, 
so full of the needs of our common human na- 
ture, so complete in their religious expression, 
that no one need seek help there and not find 
it. 

"Moreover they suggest thoughts and aspira- 
tions that search our very hearts. They are 
universal devotional experience pouring its 
wealth through every mind and heart. They 
enlighten and inspire and educate the soul.*' 

"But do not the same prayers every Sunday 
grow monotonous?" 

"Not if they satisfy a hunger. Doctor. Do 
your meals grow monotonous? Not if you are 

43 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

hungry. Human life day by day consists of 
repetitions of the same acts with most of us. 
Most of our lives consist in doing things that are 
usual and customary. They do not grow monot- 
onous if such repetition contributes to a great 
end, a great duty. 

"So the needs of men's souls are much the 
same week by week. They need much the same 
spiritual food. They need hope, comfort, cour- 
age, faith and the sense of God's presence. Va- 
riety in prayer may entertain but it will not edify 
and support the soul. But as a matter of fact 
the aspect of these prayers is as varied as the 
customary and monotonous forms of nature. 
Flowers and trees, clouds and stars, rivers and 
mountains, abound in nature, yet nature is not 
monotonous. So we bring a new man each week 
to share in the fundamental things of God, and 
each week the prayers glow with a different 
light and emphasis. They grow monotonous 
only to him who fails to bring his heart into 
tune with them." 

"But the minister reads them to the people," 
objected the Doctor. 

"No, indeed," urged the Rector. "He is merely 
the leader. He offers them to God. He in- 
terprets them to the people. That is his real 
part. He should read so that the force of the 

44 



THE PRAYER BOOK AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

prayer makes itself plain. He reinforces with 
his voice that which they read with their 
eyes. He offers them to God, not to the peo- 
ple." 

"Moreover," added the Rector, "the written 
prayers of the Prayer Book are among the finest 
creations of literature. As such they must be 
judged as any other forms of art interpretation 
are judged. We never tire of the masterpieces. 
Have you ever heard a play of Shakespeare in- 
terpreted by a master?" 

"Yes, indeed," said the Doctor. 

"Did it detract from the experience when you 
remembered that the actor was uttering pre- 
composed forms of words, words written several 
centuries ago? Would it have added to your 
satisfaction to have the actor extemporize the 
words?" 

"I am afraid not," conceded the Doctor. 

"It would not indeed," said the Rector em- 
phatically. "The masterpieces have a power 
over the soul that will never die because they 
have something of worth in them for the race. 
V/e would go again and again to see the Sistine 
Madonna, or Hamlet, or Salisbury Cathedral. 
We do not exhaust them by one seeing, or one 
hearing. They are a treasury from which the 
human spirit exacts riches that never fail. Their 

45 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

form is fixed and will remain fixed, but their 
spirit and appeal are fresh and vital to every hu- 
man life. So with the great masterpiece of de- 
votion, the Book of Common Prayer. Countless 
millions have been saturated with its language, 
its spirit, its truth, and like a great fountain, 
which has ever the same form, its flowing waters 
refresh the human soul and illumine the human 
spirit 

"And that is really what we mean by worship. 
It is not an exercise, a drill, a rehearsing of 
words, but a great experience, in which, stimu- 
lated by the noblest of written words, the spirit 
of man comes into intimate communion with 
God." 

"Do all feel that?" asked the Doctor. 

"Possibly many do not feel it constantly," ad- 
mitted the Rector. "But it is the purpose of the 
Church to lead them to feel it. And at times 
they feel it very keenly. But week by week the 
Church keeps this ideal before the people and 
urges them to those devotions and practices by 
which they may surely upbuild the practice of 
the presence of God in worship." 

"One question more before we go," said the 
Doctor. "May any one use your Prayer Book?" 

"Most certainly. It is the possession of 
Christianity as much as the Bible is. And one 

46 



THE PRAYER BOOK AND PUBLIC WORSHIP 

thing more Doctor. It is a book of the home as 
well as of the Church. If every home had its 
Prayer Book and if every person would read it 
daily, there would be such a revival of personal 
religion as would astonish our nation. I com- 
mend it to every Christian man." 



CHAPTER IV. 

BAPTISM AND CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. 

When the Major entered the Rector's study 
the following week, he found the latter engaged 
in writing a letter. 

"Busy again?" asked the Major. 

"I shall be free in a moment,*' answered the 
Rector. But before he had finished the Doctor 
and the Judge had entered. 

"Just sending a note to a bishop in Australia," 
declared the Rector. "One of my boys is going 
there and I want him to be cared for in his 
Church." 

"Have you a branch in Australia?" ques- 
tioned the Doctor. 

"I hardly know what you mean by that," re- 
joined the Rector. "The Episcopal Church 
exists wherever the English language is spoken. 
This boy is not merely a member of this parish 
but he is a member of the whole Church, and is 
consequently entitled to all its privileges 
wherever he may be. He has spiritual privileges 
in the whole Anglican communion." 

48 



BAPTISM AND CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 

"Then the household of which the Judge spoke 
last week is very widespread?" queried the 
Doctor smiling. "A pretty big family." 

"Quite right," responded the Major. "The sun 
never sets on the Church. It girdles the world 
with towers and steeples." 

"And the boy is part of the whole of it," added 
the Judge. 

The Rector had addressed the letter, and had 
taken a comfortable chair. 

"The boy will find in Australia the spiritual 
privileges to which he has been accustomed, and 
administered in a way in which he has been edu- 
cated. That's one advantage of a household 
having common family traditions." 

"But I do not see why you claim your Church 
to be a household. One is born into a family. 
If I am right many people enter the Church 
who are not born in it. You are using a figure 
of speech, are you not?" 

"It is a figure of speech, but it is most exact," 
aflBrmed the Rector. "One is born into the 
Church." 

"I don't quite see the analogy," persisted the 
Doctor. 

"Let me explain," suggested the Rector. 
"There are two forms of Church organization in 
our land. You are quite familiar with them. 

49 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

One might be called the household organization 
and the other the lodge organization." 

"You are born into one, but you join the 
other," put in the Major. 

"Many denominations with which you are 
familiar have the lodge idea of their individual 
churches. That is to say the person who wishes 
to be a member of that church makes a definite 
decision to join it, and by an act or ceremony of 
initiation he is taken into it. He is then a mem- 
ber of it." 

"Isn't that a good idea?" asked the Doctor. 

"It has one serious objection," answered the 
Rector. "It implies that one must come to ad- 
vanced years before one may be a member of 
the church. According to this idea church mem- 
bership is confined almost entirely to adults. 
The young children are not in the church. To 
me it seems a very strange notion that a church 
should consist of adults and should exclude 
children. During the years in which the chil- 
dren most need the sense of attachment to the 
church, when they should feel the sense of a defi- 
nite relationship, they must not be excluded. 
When they come to early manhood or woman- 
hood, some churches of the lodge idea submit 
them to a probation, or a trial. If they are good 
enough they may be allowed to enter into mem- 

50 



. .dEMBERSHIP 

tail to meet the standards, 

uially set by mature minds, they are 

3d." 

.X thought of that before," admitted the 

^ jr. "Exactly like a lodge. Keep you out if 

viiey don't want you. Rather exclusive, eh?" 

"It seems so," continued the Rector. "Now 
the Episcopal Church has a very different at- 
titude toward the children. It is the household 
idea. When a child is born what do the parents 
say? Do they say 'We are going to consider 
this child as a child at large, unattached and 
with no permanent ties. If the child grows up to 
be good and amenable then we shall admit him 
to the family.' Do they say that?" 

"Rather not!" asserted the Major with some 
warmth. "They say, 'You are the most impor- 
tant member of this family. You do more to in- 
cite the family to care and thoughtfulness than 
any one else. You are always a majority. 
When you grow up if you are good we shall re- 
joice, but if you are not good, we shall some- 
what blame ourselves, and if we are human we 
shall hold you closer to the home. At any rate, 
good or bad, you are a part of it and no matter 
how far astray you may go, the father's care and 
the mother's love will keep your place for you. 
You will never forfeit your place, your seat in the 

61 



THE E P i ^ 

family circle.' That's wha. 
says." And the Major pounded a- 
arm of the chair. 

"That's what the Episcopal Church s 
added the Rector. "The Church admits 
babes into membership in the Household of ti> 
faith. They become members, not with full privi- 
leges as yet, even as children of the family 
have not the privilege of the adult, but just as 
much members of the Church as a baby is a 
member of the family. Why should they not 
be? Is the Church of the living God a place in 
which babes and children have no real mem- 
bership? For my part," and the Rector's eyes 
blazed with conviction, "I should not care to be 
a member of a church that would not admit my 
baby. I want my baby, from its earliest years, 
when it begins to have knowledge of its rela- 
tions, to have three convictions : first, that it is 
of a land where the flag means protection and 
inspires patriotism; that it belongs to a family 
which surrounds it with love; and that it be- 
longs to a Church where God and the good, the 
discipleship of Christ and the idea of service are 
a very part of the air it breathes." 

"Then you mean to say," submitted the Doc- 
tor, "that your children are as much members of 
the Church as yourself?" 

52 



BAPTISM AND CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 

"I mean that exactly," affirmed the Rector. 
"They were born into the Church by baptism. 
Later they will have the full privileges." 

"And they became members of the Church by 
baptism?" asked the Doctor. 

"Yes, by the sacrament of baptism. Our Lord 
Jesus Christ founded a Kingdom which was to 
endure upon the earth. He even went so far as 
to call it His Kingdom, which is another way of 
saying that it was a real expression and part of 
Himself. It was not the device of man, or the de- 
crees of church councils, but the very provision 
of Christ Himself, that baptism was made the 
means of entrance into that Kingdom. He who 
is baptized becomes a member of Christ's King- 
dom. This is true of every baptized person." 

"Does one baptized in your Church likewise 
become a member of it by baptism?" 

"He does. The Episcopal Church is histor- 
ically a part of the Kingdom of God. Now, Doc- 
tor, I do not wish to be misunderstood when I 
refer to other churches. They are great bodies 
of Christians, doing untold good, and embracing 
in their membership many gifted and saintly 
souls. They indeed arouse our admiration. 
They have helped to convert the world to Christ 
In my reference to them I am simply trying to 
make clear that they have a different origin, a 

53 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

different structure, and a different method from 
our own. We admit of them everything which 
they claim for themselves. They do not claim to 
be historic churches. The Lutheran Church was 
founded in comparatively recent times, namely 
in 1529. The Methodist Church originated in 
1766. The Disciples were organized in 1812. No 
denomination of today was in existence before 
1523. 

"Nor do they claim a historic ministry. Most 
of them proclaim a ministry selected and em- 
powered by a congregation. We admit their 
claims. 

"They ought to do no less for the Episcopal 
Church after an examination of the evidence. 
We claim and we have, a historic ministry. 
And we claim and have had historic existence 
from Apostolic times. 

"The Episcopal Church is a historic part of 
the visible Kingdom of God. It is not the whole 
of the Kingdom, but a part of it. For you must 
remember that when our Lord established His 
Kingdom on earth it had a visible organization, 
with its ministry and its disciples. That original 
organization has not ceased to exist; through all 
the centuries it has persisted. Although it has 
not kept its original unity, the living parts re- 
main, and the Episcopal Church in America is 

54 



BAPTISM AND CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 

one of those parts. Our history runs back nine- 
teen centuries. He v/ho by baptism becomes a 
member of the Kingdom of God, is likewise, if 
such be the intention of the one who baptizes, a 
member of the historic expression of the King- 
dom which still remains as the evidence of the 
invisible realm in which God brings men's souls 
into union with Himself. That act of baptism 
is an act of union with the visible portion of the 
Kingdom, His Church, if such be also the inten- 
tion of the one who performs the baptism. The 
child becomes a member of the invisible King- 
dom and the visible Kingdom by the same act. 
Consequently, since it is only a matter of plain 
history that the Episcopal Church is a portion of 
the original organization and has never lost its 
historic identity with the Church which Christ 
founded, it follows that when a priest of the 
Church performs a baptism he is making the 
child a member of the Kingdom and of the 
Church by the same act." 

"But the child is too young to know what is 
being done," objected the Doctor. 

"Very true. But the child is not consulted as 
to the family into which it is born. The parents 
have assumed that responsibility. They commit 
the child to many relationships without waiting 
for it to arrive at an age at which it can be con- 

55 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

suited. Its land, its education, its environment 
are not matters of the child's choice. If the 
parents believe in God they must certainly feel 
that they have the duty of bringing the child to 
God's Kingdom by baptism. Otherwise their 
convictions about God are not worth mention- 
ing. To deprive the child of a relationship 
which they value, is to admit that it makes no 
difference to the child whether or not it becomes 
the child of God and an inheritor of the Kingdom 
of Heaven." 

"But when the child grows up, what then?" 
suggested the Doctor. 

"When the child grows up he is given the op- 
portunity to decide for himself whether or not 
he will accept all the privileges of the Kingdom. 
That is true even of the family. A grown up boy 
or girl may accept or reject the family tradi- 
tions, may accept or reject the high influences 
and purposes with which a family ought to sur- 
round its child. It must make the decision. But 
the child is still a member of the family. So 
when a baptized child comes to years of discre- 
tion in the Church, the opportunity is given to 
him to accept for himself the further privileges 
of the Church, and to enlist himself among those 
to whom the Church is a real household, full of 
strength; whose matured judgment, tried pur- 
se 



BAPTISM AND CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 

poses, seasoned methods, and age-long sanc- 
tions, whose treasures of strength and grace, 
are of more value to any soul than the self- 
determined and self-chosen paths, which the in- 
dividual, unguided, may select. The act by 
which the child determines to abide by the wis- 
dom and long-tried sanctions of the household 
of the Church is called Confirmation." 

"I always thought Confirmation was joining 
the Church," said the Doctor. 

"Not at all. Confirmation, for one baptized in 
the Church in infancy, is merely the act by which 
one comes of age in the Church and is admitted 
into its full privileges. This is true, however: 
the Episcopal Church recognizes the fact that 
any baptism, properly administered, brings the 
baptized person into the invisible Kingdom of 
God. The Episcopal Church would recognize 
your baptism as valid, no matter by what minis- 
ter you were baptized, if you were baptized with 
water in the name of the Trinity. But that bap- 
tism was not intended to make you also a mem- 
ber of the visible Kingdom, the Church. Conse- 
quently your Confirmation in the Episcopal 
Church, in that case, would be not merely a con- 
firmation of your baptismal obligations, but 
would be also a recognition of your attachment 
to a portion of the visible Kingdom, the historic 

57 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

Church, founded by Christ, and existing in this 
land as the Episcopal Church. A person, so 
baptized, might be said to have some as yet un- 
claimed privilege which the Episcopal Church 
reserves for any baptized person. He may later 
claim it, and the definite act of claiming that 
privilege is called Confirmation. That privilege 
is the right to share in all the spiritual ad- 
vantages of the historic Church." 

"But what if one is baptized as an adult?" 

"The principle is the same except that one is 
then expected to know the obligations to the 
Kingdom of God involved in baptism. He be- 
comes, just as the child does, a member of the 
Kingdom, and of the Church, if such is the in- 
tention of the service." 

"But if an adult is baptized by a minister of 
the Episcopal Church and thereby becomes a 
member of the Episcopal Church, why need he 
take the further step of Confirmation? He has 
already, in maturity, assumed the baptismal 
obligation." 

"He must be confirmed," answered the Rec- 
tor, "because Confirmation is more than an in- 
dividual ratification of the baptismal vows. It 
is a means by which the gift of the Holy Spirit is 
bestowed upon each soul, by the imposition of 
the hands of the bishop. This gift quickens the 

58 



BAPTISM AND CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 

spiritual life. The baptized person wishes to 
have this gift. At the same time he wishes to 
conform to the practice of the ages, and to re- 
ceive the bishop's blessing." 

"If an adult is baptized does the service take 
place in the presence of the congregation?" 
asked the Doctor. 

"Not necessarily. Most ministers of the 
Episcopal Church are quite ready to arrange a 
special service in the church at some hour when 
the congregation is not present. I have baptized 
many adults in this way." 

"Are there any requirements for the adult 
who wishes to be baptized?" 

"An adult is generally instructed by the min- 
ister as to the meaning of the service and of the 
obligations. At the service itself only four ques- 
tions are asked to which the replies are given." 

The Rector opened a Prayer Book saying, 
"Here are the questions and answers: 

Dost thou renounce the devil and all his 

works, the vain pomp and glory of the 

world, with all covetous desires of the same, 

and the sinful desires of the flesh, so that 

thou wilt not follow, nor be led by then^? 
Answer, I renounce them all, and, by 

God's help, will endeavor not to follow, nor 

be led by them. 

59 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

Question. Dost thou believe all the Arti- 
cles of the Christian Faith, as contained in 
the Apostles' Creed? 
Answer. I do. 

Question. Wilt thou be baptized in this 
Faith? 

Answer. That is my desire. 
Question. Wilt thou then obediently keep 
God's holy will and commandments, and 
walk in the same all the days of thy life? 

Answer. I will, by God's help. 
"Baptism is naturally followed by Confirma- 
tion. The candidate for Confirmation is in- 
structed by the Rector of the parish. The basis 
for instruction is the Catechism. I would sug- 
gest that you read it. It begins on page 266 of 
the Prayer Book. It is a brief instruction in the 
Christian faith." 

"And what is your Confirmation Service? 
Must one stand before the congregation and 
answer questions or make a profession of 
faith?" 

"No. His very presence is an act of professing 
his faith and no statement is required. The only 
question put to him is: *Do ye here, in the 
presence of God, and of this congregation, re- 
new the solemn promise and vow that ye made, 
or that was made in your name, at your Bap- 

60 



CHAPTER V. 

THE apostles' CREED. 

The Doctor settled into an easy chair and 
looked keenly at the Rector. 

"You are taking a good deal of trouble to en- 
lighten me," he said at length. 

"Why not? Religion is as much a matter of 
investigation as medicine. It stands the intellec- 
tual test." 

"Do most people realize that?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"Maybe not. Many people have the religious 
instinct and seek the place where religion is 
presented. But I am sure that many desire 
to know more of the foundations upon which 
their religious practices rest." 

The Judge and the Major entered at that 
moment and after the usual greetings the four 
men gathered about the fire. 

"Well, Rector," began the Major, "whaf s tb- 
program for tonight?" 

The Judge answered. "We are to be en 
lightened on the subject of the Apostles' Creed,^ 

63 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

The Rector looked at the Doctor who nodded 
assent. 

"Let's have sound doctrine," cautioned the 
Major smiling. 

The Doctor was alert in a moment. "Before 
you begin," he said, "I should like to say that I 
have always felt that the Church was too much 
attached to what the Major calls doctrine. The 
word makes me nervous. Why couldn't the 
Church have less doctrine and not puzzle us so 
much?" 

The Rector laughed. "What do you mean by 
doctrine, Doctor?" he inquired. 

The Doctor sat for a moment, thinking. 
Finally he exclaimed, "I mean abstruse theolog- 
ical statements set forth on authority, but to 
be believed by the people." 

The Rector threw up his hands. "No wonder 
you want less of it. So do I. You are not de- 
fining doctrine. Doctrine is something quite 
different." 

"What is it then?" challenged the Doctor. 

"In brief, doctrine is truth, clearly set forth 
in teachable form. In general, every proposi- 
tion of geometry is doctrine." Here the Rector 
reached for a book from the shelf nearby. "This 
is a book on the Science of Physics. Here is the 
first law of motion. 'If a body be at rest it will 

64 



THE APOSTLES' CREED 

remain so unless acted upon by some external 
force/ That's doctrine." 

"But that is a law of science," urged the Doc- 
tor. 

"True, but it is set forth in teachable form." 

"But the laws of science are dififerent. They 
can be proved." 

"Nevertheless, they are doctrine. Every body 
of truth, scientific, or historical, or philosophi- 
cal, or literary, has certain essential principles 
which men endeavor to express as clearly as 
possible in order to teach others. Let us get this 
matter straight in the beginning. Religion has 
a certain body of truth. When that truth is put 
in teachable form it is doctrine." 

"I heard a man arguing at the club today," 
said the Doctor, "about the Church. He said 
that unless the Church got free from its doc- 
trines it would never appeal to him." 

"I do not want to slander a possible friend of 
yours," said the Rector, "but that man was talk- 
ing sheer nonsense. It sounded big and super- 
ior, but it was pure ignorance combined with a 
little bluster. He wanted to be a liberal fellow, 
eh?" 

"I assumed as much," admitted the Doctor. 

"I have no patience with men who think 
straight on other matters, but who dismiss reli- 
es 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

gion with a phrase that means nothing. No 
truth has any force until it becomes expressed 
in doctrine. The multiplication table is pure 
mathematical doctrine. The rules of Latin 
grammar are doctrine." 

"You are using the word in a general sense," 
interposed the Doctor. "How about theological 
doctrine? Is that not more narrow?" 

"Not necessarily so," replied the Rector. 
"There are certain sciences whose truths may 
not be set forth with mathematical certainty, 
but which nevertheless may be taught to men. 
Philosophy is one such science, psychology is 
another. There are inany others. Theology starts 
with a few fundamental facts. Every known 
fact is a challenge to investigating minds. Men 
try to learn the whole of the system of which one 
well established fact is a part. When you have 
fully established one fact, you are compelled, if 
you think at all, to draw certain conclusions 
from it. Robinson Crusoe saw the footprint in 
the sand. That was a fact. He immediately 
concluded that a human being had landed on his 
island. His thoughts revolved about that fact. 
Take Geologj^ The discovery of an almost per- 
fect skeleton of a man, in a cave at Mentone, in 
France, together with the bones of extinct 
animals, and all covered with stalagmitic crust, 

66 



THE APOSTLES' CREED 

is a fact. This together with other facts of a 
similar nature have set men thinking about the 
antiquity of man on this earth. Given a fact, 
thought about it is inevitable." 

"Granted," said the Doctor, "but what has that 
to do with doctrine?" 

"Everything," answered the Rector. "Newton 
saw the apple fall. He noted the fact. His thought 
about it resulted in his doctrine of gravita- 
tion. Now in theology there are certain funda- 
mental facts. Men's thinking about them pro- 
duces a body of doctrine." 

"But what if men draw false conclusions?" 
objected the Doctor. 

"One man is most liable to do so," admitted 
the Rector. "But the doctrine of the Church is 
not the conclusion of one man. It is the corpor- 
ate conclusion of vast numbers of men who have 
studied, investigated, and verified their conclu- 
sions. These conclusions, which the thought and 
experience of ages have substantiated, are pre- 
sented as the sound judgment of the Church as 
to the meaning of the facts." 

"But do not doctrines change with the pass- 
ing ages?" 

"Of course. Let us be clear. The facts are 
eternal and change not. But with the passing 
of the centuries and with new knowledge, the 

67 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

doctrines change. It is so with every science, 
your own most of all. The doctrines of the 
Church represent the highest possible reach of 
the Church toward the ultimate realities." 

"But must people believe them even if they do 
not understand them?" 

"Not at all! Belief in the doctrine of the 
Church does not mean blind intellectual assent 
to those doctrines. But it does mean an attitude 
of confidence in the truth-finding capacity of the 
Church, and a consequent trust in the conclu- 
sions. I have not enough knowledge of medi- 
cine to say that I believe, intellectually, in a sin- 
gle one of your prescriptions. Yet I have so 
much confidence in the whole body of medical 
science, and in the profession, that I believe in 
your prescription, if you are not trying upon me 
some individual experiment of your own." 

"But are the doctrines of the Church to be 
taken like prescriptions?" 

"No. The analogy fails there. Good doctrine 
is quite clear and intelligible. But you cannot 
swallow it like a pill. Each one can absorb only 
what he can understand and use. But the 
Church is a teaching body and it tries to make 
men understand the doctrine." 

"Give an example." 

"A fundamental doctrine of Christianity is 

68 



THE APOSTLES' CREED 

that God is a Person. God is not nature! God 
is not a mere force, but God is a Person. As 
such He is capable of love, and He loves men. 
He wants men to do His will, and He has made 
clear His will. To those who do His will He 
promises some supreme experience which we 
call life eternal." 

"Is that doctrine?" asked the Doctor. 

"It surely is. Now there are two ways of be- 
lieving it. One way is to say that it has your 
intellectual assent as an explanation of God's 
relation to men. The other way is to admit this 
statement and this doctrine as a part of your 
living, as a motive, an incentive and a principle. 
Then your life shows that you have assented 
unto it with your whole being." 

"You can live doctrine then?" asked the Doc- 
tor. 

"You cannot do anything else if you really 
accept it. The Church is only slightly concerned 
that men agree intellectually that the system of 
doctrine is reasonable. The Church is tremen- 
dously concerned that its teachings become a 
part of each man's life, that he base his actions 
and words upon them." 

"Then belief is not merely saying that you 
think something is so when you do not know 
whether it is so or not?" 

69 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"You must have been under some misguided 
task masters in your youth, Doctor," broke in 
the Judge. "What in the world gave you that 
impression?" 

The Major answered for him. "The lack of 
attention in maturity to the real claims of reli- 
gion. I know. I went through it." 

"Belief," said the Rector, "involves the confi- 
dence of the whole man in the reliability of the 
main fact that the world and the race are the 
products of God's will, and a certainty that those 
teachings which follow from this fact are trust- 
worthy. Such a belief is the reliance of man up- 
on the validity of human thinking and his faith 
that the world is not a huge deception arranged 
for his confusion, but an orderly, reasonable, 
and loving expression of God's good will and 
love toward men." 

"But does one have to accept the doctrine to 
become a member of the church?" 

"Not in the way you mean," replied the Rec- 
tor quickly. "The Church's doctrine is the re- 
sult of the effort of the Church to make clear the 
implications of the facts upon which it is based. 
The facts themselves are the important founda- 
tions of Christianity. That brings us to the 
Creed." 

"Is the Creed doctrine?" 

70 



THE APOSTLES' CREED 

"In a sense. The Creed is a simple statement 
of the fundamental facts." 

"But I have been told that creeds were hide- 
bound." 

"Some misinformed person told you that. As 
a matter of fact, however, the word creed is very 
loosely used. Some men use it to describe their 
individual surmises or opinions. This use of 
the word is inexact. No one cares a straw about 
any one person's individual surmises, even if 
he be a minister. There is a vast amount of non- 
sense abroad about ministers. There is one 
opinion that each minister creates his own 
*views.' If you like his 'views' you go to hear 
him. He erects his opinions into a creed. That 
is as remote from the Christian conception of 
the ministry of the Episcopal Church, as prophe- 
sying about tomorrow's weather from duck's 
feathers is remote from the work of the 
meteorological bureau of the United States Gov- 
ernment." 

"But hasn't any man the same sources of in- 
formation that you have?" asked the Doctor. 

"He seems to have, but he has not used them. 
A creed is not an individual guess, but a collec- 
tive assent, verified through centuries, and tested 
by millions. The purpose of the Church is not 
to let every man utter his perhaps partial con- 

71 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

victions, but to let the whole body speak through 
its ministrj^ to every hearer." 

"I thought each religious body developed its 
own creed?" suggested the Doctor. 

"That brings us to the second error about the 
use of the word creed. The word is often used to 
designate man's theories about facts or even 
one's conclusions about conduct based on those 
theories. I have heard it said that it is a part of 
the creed of a certain religious denomination not 
to dance. That is a misuse of language. The 
prohibition against dancing is not a part of the 
creed but is a human provision of discipline. 
The creed, again, is a statement of the funda- 
mental facts." 

"What is the Episcopal creed?" innocently 
asked the Doctor. 

"There is no Episcopal creed any more than 
there is an Episcopal table of weights and meas- 
ures. The Episcopal Church did not create a 
creed. The Episcopal Church is committed to 
the Apostles' Creed, which is a statement of the 
fundamental facts of Christianity, and which is 
so completely identified with Christianity, in the 
historic sense, that one is inconceivable without 
the other. The Apostles' Creed is not a series of 
surmises but a statement of facts. The Episco- 
pal Church teaches those facts to all who seek 



THE APOSTLES' CREED 

membership in the Church by the sacrament of 
baptism." 

"And is that all you require?" asked the Doc- 
tor. 

"With the exception of the expression of one's 
will to renounce evil and follow God's will, that 
is all that is asked." 

"Do you mean to say that the Church asks you 
to accept those simple facts, and that it imposes 
no other obligations whatsoever?" 

"Except loyalty to an organization of which 
you are a part, the Church imposes no other 
obligation." 

"But some denominations exact a promise of 
their members not to dance, and things of that 
sort." 

"That is the lodge idea creeping out. The 
Episcopal Church asks only a simple assent to 
the Creed." 

"Do you mean to say that it does not ask you 
to believe in its method of worship, in the use 
of the Prayer Book and vestments and such 
things?" 

"I mean that exactly. The Church does not 
elevate these things into a creed. It thinks that 
they are valuable as methods. It approves of 
them. It finds them serviceable. But they are not 
fundamentally essential. The Church is con- 

73 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

cerned that you accept God as your Father and 
Jesus Christ as your Saviour." 

"I was under the impression that a church 
member was under obligation to believe the 
Bible," urged the Doctor. 

"Do not misunderstand my reply, Doctor. 
The Episcopal Church is the Bible Church. It 
reads large portions of the Bible to the people 
in the services; more, I believe, than is read in 
other kinds of public worship. Every minister 
of the Church makes solemn affirmation at his 
ordination that he believes 'the Holy Scriptures 
of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word 
of God, and to contain all things necessary to 
Salvation.' 

"But the Church imposes no such obligation 
upon its members. The Bible is a very large 
book. The meaning is often obscure. Isolated 
passages may be found with which to prove al- 
most anything under the sun, if the Bible is ac- 
cepted as a collection of isolated texts each one 
of which is considered to be true, irrespective of 
the rest and unrelated to the context. 

"Nor is it a book of science. The statement 
of Genesis that the world was created in six 
days is not a literal fact, if we mean six days of 
twenty-four hours. The Bible cannot be quoted 
in defense of such a conclusion. The Bible sets 

74 



THE APOSTLES' CREED 

forth spiritual and religious truth and in "every 
sphere it reflects only the condition of knowledge 
which prevailed at the time at which the books 
were written. 

"The Bible is the literature of a great race, the 
literature of a great movement toward realizing 
the relation of God to men. As such it is a vast 
treasury of light and spiritual power, and men 
may indeed find in it all things necessary to sal- 
vation. 

"But the Church does not ask you to make a 
formal statement of belief in the Bible. The 
Church will instruct you in its truths, but it re- 
quires of you no statement of your attitude to- 
ward the Bible. The Church believes that as 
years pass you will learn the truths of the Bible 
and their appeal to your life will awaken your 
response to their enduring value to your soul. 

"Moreover the Church believes that it has 
presented the heart of the Bible's requirements 
in the two sacraments of the religious life. Bap- 
tism and the Holy Communion, and in the sum- 
mary of facts, essential to Christianity, in the 
Apostles' Creed. 

"Read me the Apostles' Creed," said the Doc- 
tor. 

The Rector took a Prayer Book and read the 
Creed : 

75 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker 
of heaven and earth : 

"And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord : 
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of 
the Virgin Mary: Suffered under Pontius 
Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried : He de- 
scended into Hell; The third day he rose again 
from the dead: He ascended into heaven. And 
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Al- 
mighty: From thence he shall come to judge 
the quick and the dead. 

"I believe in the Holy Ghost : The holy Cath- 
olic Church; The Communion of Saints: The 
Forgiveness of Sins: The Resurrection of the 
body: And the Life everlasting. Amen." 

"I am not sure that I understand all that it 
means," said the Doctor. 

"Possibly not at the first reading," agreed the 
Rector, "for there are several phrases here 
whose meaning is not quite apparent. A little 
patient study, however, will make them plain. 
I always explain these phrases to those who 
enter my confirmation classes. 

"You must understand. Doctor," continued the 
Rector, "that this Creed is centuries old. It is 
the collective judgment of the Christian Church 
as to the fundamental facts. It is as much a cor- 
porate expression of the whole Church as it is 

76 



THE APOSTLES' CREED 

a personal expression. An individual might not 
understand all the bearings of these facts. He 
would scarcely be expected to believe the Creed 
as the independent conclusions of his own think- 
ing. He might never have discovered some of 
these facts by himself. The heart of the Creed is 
this. First, that God is the Father: that Jesus 
Christ is His Son and was born into this world 
and died for men; and that the Holy Spirit of 
God is now active and present to bring men into 
relation with God. If all that you feel about 
God and Christ is toward these conclusions, then 
you may, with real integrity, say you believe the 
facts of the Apostles' Creed. No man can do 
more than believe toward this great expression 
of fundamental Christianity." 

"But it does not explain anything," urged the 
Doctor. 

"It does not. But it is an expression of al- 
legiance toward God and Christ. The teaching 
Church instructs the attentive mind. But this 
teaching, as I said, imposes no obligation except 
as all truth demands credence by its very nature. 
What I mean is that in the Episcopal Church 
you do not commit yourself beforehand to a 
body of doctrine which prevents your own think- 
ing. The Creed does not restrain your liberty of 
thought, but enlarges it by giving you some basis 

77 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

of fact upon which thought may exercise itself. 
You have complete intellectual freedom in the 
Church. 

"For, you see, the Creed is an expression of 
one's sense of security in God's government of 
the world and in His love for men in the life 
and death of Jesus Christ. It is an affirmation of 
the conviction of one's soul that Jesus Christ 
is the Son of God and the Saviour of men. It 
is not merely a series of disconnected sentences, 
having no relation to one another, but it is an 
expression, in language as simple as can be, and 
comprehensive of every important fact, of the 
great central truth. If one of these statements is 
true, all are true. They unfold, one from an- 
other. Anyone who admits the rational char- 
acter and logical cogency of one theorem of ge- 
ometry, has necessarily given his assent to the 
whole system of geometry, even though some of 
the problems may puzzle him. So, any one of 
the facts of the creed, standing without the 
others, is indefinite and obscure. They are an 
interlocked statement of the whole group of 
truths. If you can say, 'I believe in God the 
Father Almighty' you can say the rest, for the 
same validity which pertains to this statement, 
pertains to all. The understanding of this re- 
lation is a matter of study. After all, the Creed 

78 



THE APOSTLES' CREED 

is a symbol of one's conviction that God has 
loved men, and that with His love has come a 
definite effort to illumine and save men. 

"And then you must remember, Doctor, that 
no man has ever reached the final implications 
of any one fact. The good old sun has warmed 
this earth for centuries. I believe in that sun. 
I know his power, his warmth, his cheer. But 
astronomers today are more diligent than ever 
in studying the sun. I am mildly interested in 
their speculations, but I believe strongly in the 
sun. He is the source of physical energy on 
earth and I know it. Practically the sun is indis- 
pensable to our living. 

"So the religious life, after all, is not a matter 
of trying to reach the bottom of things to satisfy 
one's intellectual curiosity. It is an intensely 
practical matter. So, as a matter of fact, I know 
that they who serve God grow in blessedness and 
peace and usefulness; those who accept Christ 
have not only a guide but a motive power, a 
real inward treasure of thought, of hope, of con- 
tent. For them there is light ahead and a path, 
and their minds dwell richly on things eternal. 
The Church has always been the environment 
in which this belief and faith in God and Christ 
have been emphasized, enforced and nurtured. 
The history of the Church has been a history of 

79 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

care for human souls, human lives. Those who 
have whole-heartedly entered its portals, have 
been refreshed, inspired, and given a new heart 
and a mind richly furnished with true wealth. 
And the mind of the Church has thought upon 
the origin of its strength, while the heart of the 
Church has applied it and the hands of the 
Church have fought to keep the race clean. The 
mind of the Church has found in the Creed the 
sufficient statement of the facts, which, trans- 
lated into heart power, have so completely en- 
veloped human lives with a sense of the near- 
ness of God and union with Christ. With my 
whole heart I can say these words which the 
Church has erected as the intellectual basis of a 
faith that has wrought miracles among men in 
transforming the race into the children of God." 

"That's the real test," admitted the Doctor. 
" 'By their fruits ye shall know them.' " 

"Wherever those facts have been the basis of 
corporate action; wherever they have entered 
men's hearts as the fundamental things of God, 
the people have been strengthened and religion 
has had power. But wherever men have thought 
it possible to erect some less enduring structure, 
where they have substituted their surmises for 
this great body of truth, their religion has 
grown thin and pale, and has finally lost its hold 

80 



THE APOSTLES' CREED 

upon the mind and heart of men. Faithful ad- 
herence to the Creed has been the strength of 
the Church throughout the centuries." 

The Judge arose. "I have said the Creed all 
my life," he said solemnly. "I hope that I may 
say it with firmer conviction on the day of my 
death. For life would be poor indeed if my 
dying lips could not fervently say, 'I believe in 
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the 
body and the life everlasting.' " 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE HOLY COMMUNION. 

When the Doctor entered the Rector's study 
the following week he found the Judge already 
there and in earnest consultation with the 
Rector. 

"Planning a new drive?" he asked. 

"We are," answered the Judge. "We are ar- 
ranging for the services this summer." 

"Don't you close the church in summer?" 

"No, indeed. Services as usual all summer. 
Why make an exception of summer?" 

"Well, there seems to be no particular reason, 
I admit, except that the people generally take a 
vacation." 

"Possibly so. But Sunday is Sunday even in 
summer, and to close the Church is to ignore 
that fact." 

"The fourth commandment holds good in 
warm weather," said the Doctor smiling. 

"See here. Doctor," urged the Judge. "You 
carry about a peculiarly large stock of erroneous 
notions. Do you think that we observe Sunday 
because of the fourth commandment?" 

82 



THE HOLY COMMUNION 

"Don't you?" parried the Doctor. "I never 
gave the matter much thought." 

"Gather 'round the fire," commanded the 
Judge. "Rector, what about Sunday?" 

"There is a false notion in many quarters that 
we are living in Judea, in the year 1000 B. C, in- 
stead of in America in the twentieth century. The 
commandment to keep the seventh day holy ap- 
plied to the pre-Christian period. The Chris- 
tian Sunday has an entirely different origin." 

"Go on, Rector," urged the Doctor. "This is 
real news." 

"News that is centuries old," continued the 
Rector. "The early disciples came together on 
the first day of the week, to observe it as the day 
on which our Lord rose from the dead. Sunday 
is not the Jewish Sabbath. Each Sunday is an 
echo of Easter. Each Sunday is a festival, a day 
of joy." 

"It wasn't so in my youth," commented the 
Doctor. "It was a day of sadness and gloom. 
It was oppressive and irksome." 

"You were not keeping a Christian Sunday 
then, but some echo of the early Jewish Sab- 
bath, with a large infusion of puritan piety." 

"It was anything but joyous," said the Doctor. 

"Sunday is a great day of rejoicing, when 
properly understood. It is a miniature Easter." 

83 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"Did the early disciples so keep it?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"They did. They met on Sunday to celebrate 
the Holy Communion, the great feast of praise 
and thanksgiving, the Holy Eucharist. For long 
over a thousand years this was the chief service 
of Sunday. The public services to which many 
of the people of this land are accustomed, that 
is, a few hymns, a long prayer and a sermon, 
are very modern." 

The Major had entered and was listening. 

"They lack imagination, variety, and, often, 
the suggestion of joy," he stated. 

"The Holy Communion has every essential of 
individual and corporate worship blended in 
one great spiritual act," continued the Rector. 
"It is the chief service of Sunday." 

"I didn't know that," said the Doctor. "How 
often do you have this service?" 

"In most Episcopal Churches the Holy Com- 
munion is celebrated every Sunday. Often it is 
at an early hour. But this service and the ob- 
servance of Sunday are so closely interwoven 
that to let a Sunday pass without it is to rob 
Sunday of much of its significance. 

"I should like to understand a little more 
about it," declared the Doctor. "I never under- 
stood quite what you meant by a sacrament." 

84 



THE HOLY COMMUNION 

"Speaking in theological terms, a sacrament is 
an outward and visible sign of an inward and 
spiritual grace. But we may understand this 
better if we realize that the word sacrament 
might have the general sense of an outward and 
visible sign or token of some inward value. For 
example," and the Rector took a bill from his 
pocket, "here is a piece of paper. It is printed 
and stamped under authority. If I give it to 
you it conveys one dollar's value. It is a sacra- 
ment, speaking generally." 

"All life," he continued, "has constant sacra- 
mental expression. I wish, for example, to send 
a message to you. That message has its first ex- 
istence in my own mind. I write it upon paper. 
That paper and those ink marks are sacra- 
mental. They convey the message. When you 
read it, the message becomes a reality of your 
mind. The paper and ink may convey anger, 
joy, sorrow, or whatever I feel. They may pro- 
duce feelings in you. They are the channels of 
value. 

"Here is a book. It is so much paper, paste- 
board, cloth, and ink. Yet it brings from one 
mind a value to thousands of minds. It is sac- 
ramental, an outward and visible sign of inward 
value. A book may make you cry or laugh. 
Really it is the author who does so. The book is 

85 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

the effective means of conveying truth from the 
mind of the author to the reader. 

"So with our food. A few acres of land will 
sustain a man's life. How? Does he eat the 
earth? No! But he prepares it and plants 
wheat. He gathers the wheat, grinds it into 
flour, bakes bread and eats the bread. The loaf 
has gathered up the chemical elements in the 
earth and air and sunlight, and conveys them to 
man to sustain his life. The loaf is a sacrament : 
it is the outward token of invisible values. 

"God's grace toward man, His love toward 
man, are universal. But He has established cer- 
tain ways by which men may be assured of God's 
favor. Jesus Christ ordained the Sacrament of 
Baptism by which men are incorporated into His 
Kingdom. 

"Jesus Christ died for men. But that men 
might receive the value of His life and death, 
He instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Com- 
munion. 

"The consecrated bread and wine are made 
the very sacraments of the value created for men 
by the death of Christ on the Cross, and they are 
the very means by which the power and efficacy 
of His body broken and His blood shed are con- 
veyed to each individual soul. 

"Of course, he who receives them must re- 

86 



THE HOLY COMMUNION 

ceive them with a heart prepared to accept them 
for what they are. There is no magic in them. 
The individual must be prepared to welcome 
Christ, His power and love, into the life. Then 
the sacraments become the food of the soul." 

"Then the sacrament, instead of being an un- 
usual and exceptional method," said the Doc- 
tor, "is merely the most natural method, having 
a counterpart in every process by which life is 
upbuilt." 

"That is quite true," answered the Rector. 
"The exceptional element is not the method, 
that is, the charging of bread and wine with 
some further function, but the exceptional 
thing is the nature of the value that is conveyed 
by them. Christ instituted this method 
and pledged His word that in the Holy 
Communion there should be the value created 
by His death on the Cross for men." 

"Doesn't nature, which is another manifesta- 
tion of God, work in a similar fashion in the 
healing of the ills of the body?" questioned the 
Major earnestly. 

"What do you mean exactly. Major," asked 
the Doctor. 

"Who heals disease, you or nature?" asked 
the Major directly. 

"Not I," admitted the Doctor. "Nature is the 

87 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

great healer. I simply adjust nature to the pur- 
pose." 

"Exactly. Now for a certain kind of ailment, 
nature provides a certain remedy. Is not that 
remedy, that medicinal force, confined to certain 
substances?" 

"It is," said the Doctor. 

"Yet it is nature that functions through that 
outward and visible substance," said the Major. 
"It is nature's way. She acts through sacra- 
ments. And nature is merely a manifestation of 
God." 

"I see what you mean, Major," granted the 
Doctor. "But what are the exact benefits which 
one receives in the Holy Communion?" 

"Before I answer that, let me suggest one con- 
sideration. Is it not true. Doctor, that the atti- 
tude of the patient toward the healing power, 
whether toward the physician or his medicine, is 
a large element in the effectiveness of his treat- 
ment?" 

"You mean confidence in the recovery through 
the treatment? Yes. It is perhaps the most im- 
portant element." 

"So with the Holy Communion. I suggest that 
you take your Prayer Book and study the service 
from the standpoint of the education of the one 
who receives the Holy Communion; of the way 

88 



THE HOLY CO M M UNION 

in which the Church endeavors to arouse the 
consciousness of the need and at the same time 
inspires a confidence that the need will be met. 
"You will find that the Church leads the wor- 
shipper through two phases of the great drama 
of human life. On the one hand the Church, in 
this service, goes to the very heart of sinful hu- 
man nature and tries to awaken the soul of man 
to the deadliness of sin. The Church presents 
the dignity and worth and satisfaction of human 
life and the joy of it when sin is overcome and 
life is filled with the spirit of God. At the same 
time the Church presents the other phase of 
the drama, the effort of God to bridge the gulf 
between man and God created by sin, and to 
reach forth to bring men to Himself, to recon- 
cile them to Him. Then there is presented that 
which is the very basis of Christianity, the sac- 
rifice of Jesus Christ, His death on the Cross, that 
effected the full, perfect and sufficient satisfac- 
tion to God for the sins of the whole world. The 
worshipper cannot be unmoved by the tender 
mercy of God toward himself. The worship, if 
it has been effective, brings to man a realization 
of his supreme need of God. This realization 
bares many things to himself. It makes him see 
that sin has in some way entered his life, that 
he is worldly, or selfish, or worse. It makes him 

89 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

realize his ingratitude in accepting the gift of 
life and then allowing it to serve merely tem- 
poral ends that perish. It lets him see that at 
death he will be a bankrupt. It produces a hun- 
ger and thirst after righteousness. It produces 
a desire to be a spiritual person, thinking great, 
true thoughts, doing great, kind deeds, devoting 
his capacity to the upbuilding and not the up- 
rooting of every righteous effort upon earth. 
This great drama is a great awakening. Then 
comes the climax of it all. It is the very effort 
of God to reach that soul and refresh and 
strengthen it. So the communicant comes to the 
Altar, and in a most solemn way and with re- 
ceptive heart, receives the consecrated Bread 
and Wine, through which and in which, the 
power and efficacy of Christ's sacrifice for him 
are brought to his soul. It is a near ap- 
proach to Christ that men experience, when with 
true penitent heart and lively faith they receive 
these holy mysteries, as pledges of God's love." 

"But must not men be very holy in their lives 
to receive the Holy Communion?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"The Church itself has set forth the conditions 
under which one is urged to come to the Holy 
Communion. Christ instituted this sacrament to 
draw men to Himself, not to frighten them away. 

90 



THE H O L Y COMMUNION 

No man need question his fitness, only his motive 
and intention and purpose. Here are the words 
of invitation : 

"Ye who do truly and earnestly repent you 
of your sins, and are in love and charity with 
your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, 
following the commandments of God, and walk- 
ing from henceforth in His holy ways; Draw 
near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament 
to your comfort. 

"If such is your purpose then you may come 
without hesitation. You must remember that 
the value of the Holy Communion to any man, 
is to be determined by experience, not by any 
process of reasoning unaccompanied by experi- 
ence. Many a person has found in spiritual ex- 
ercises, such as prayer and participation in the 
Holy Communion, great spiritual power, and 
strength to resist temptation, which he could 
never find were he content to do no more than 
reason about them. One of our Lord's most 
urgent injunctions is to do His will, and knowl- 
edge of the power of His injunctions will fol- 
low. Trust and act, has been the watchword of 
many a powerful life. 

"Life is always a struggle," continued the Rec- 
tor. "If one willingly and gladly surrenders to 
evil and is satisfied, he should not dare to come 

91 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

to the Holy Communion. But if one fights and 
struggles, if one wills to overcome evil and wills 
to free himself from its power, then he may 
come. It is not a sign of righteousness attained, 
but of righteousness desired. It is to help men, 
not to crown saints. It is for sinners, but for 
sinners who would not willingly remain so. It 
is a refreshment for the battle, not a reward for 
the victory. So honest men, however far short 
they may be of their ideals, may come honestly, 
if they want God's help." 

"Does every communicant realize this?" 
asked the Doctor. 

"Maybe not at first," admitted the Rector. 
"Spiritual things are not discerned by the eye of 
flesh. Not every man realizes the value of 
friendships. He debases a friendship by making 
it serve some personal end, then loses it and 
only too late realizes that what he hoped to gain 
selfishly was of no value compared with the sat- 
isfaction in the friendship which he sacrificed. 
Not every man perceives that his work is a bless- 
ing, an opportunity to create, to grow, to have 
some definite usefulness which men respect, to 
give some outlet to his powers, to occupy and en- 
gage his attention, to give some means of expres- 
sion to his personality. He may look upon it as 
mere work, a way to earn a living. He aims to 



THE HOLY COMMUNION 

become superior to the necessity of work, and 
when free from the opportunity to work, he be- 
gins to shrink and shrivel. He is an unattached 
and unrelated energy, turned to self destruction. 
He becomes unhappy and finally despairs. Life 
has no joy for him. 

"Not every man perceives his relation to God. 
He does not realize that peace, love, joy, long 
suffering, gentleness, and goodness are the very 
things which he had hoped to gain when he was 
directly aiming at power and possession. He 
does not realize that serving God brings at once 
the things which he hoped to find at the end of a 
long hard task. 

"Not every man is sensitive to beauty or joy. 
It requires greatest self-control, a sublime sense 
of proportion, a keen sense of values, and a ro- 
bust faith in the present, to extract the imme- 
diate wholesome values of the passing hour. 

"So not every man is conscious of his greatest 
need, the need of spiritual power. When he 
first comes to the Holy Communion he may do 
so for reasons which are not the reasons of the 
one who has learned to see God. But later, when 
the sense of the passing of temporal things seizes 
him, when sin assails, or sorrow sears his heart, 
when his own human strength gives way, and 
he sees life in its larger relations, when his petty 

93 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

successes which once gave him such complete 
self reliance and independence, and made him 
so confident in his ability to face life alone, when 
such successes fail to avert the tragedies of our 
daily experience, and the man feels the human 
foundations tottering, then he will come to his 
communion with a more complete conformity to 
God's will, with more earnest desire to make 
God a partner in life's enterprises. Then he will 
see the truth of the saying that *the things that 
are seen are temporal, but the things that are 
not seen are eternal.' " 

"The Episcopal Church, I assume then, be- 
lieves in the growth of the spiritual life," said 
the Doctor. 

"Precisely. The Episcopal Church sets forth, 
in this service, in words of supreme beauty and 
power, the truth of the development of spiritual 
capacity and achievement. Slowly but surely its 
children are educated. Righteousness is no 
chance product, no hot-house flower dependent 
upon the emotional appeal of some revivalist, 
but the steadily rising structure of a Christian 
life. Every moral law, every spiritual sub- 
stance, every righteous principle, every reason- 
able faith, every certain hope, every precept of 
Christ, every virtue and every beauty of holiness 
is builded into the growing character. That is 

94 



THE HOLY COMMUNION 

the ideal. And the crowning practice and su- 
preme spiritual achievement and active expres- 
sion of strength, the cpmplete appreciation of 
the spiritual forces and truths, all find expres- 
sion in the devout life of the communicant, in 
the weekly celebration of the Holy Communion. 

"It may take years to come to the full under- 
standing of it all, and to find in this service a 
spiritual exercise and refreshment of the most 
sublime and exalted character, but this realiza- 
tion finally crowns faithfulness. 

"So the Episcopal Church has ever fresh treas- 
ures for its people. They do not exhaust its 
wealth at a bound. Year after year the Church 
opens up new vistas of truth, new strengths to be 
attained, new avenues of effort, new reservoirs 
of power. 

"The child at the Altar is giving expression to 
the simple melody of trust in Christ and 
obedience to the simple rules of life and con- 
duct which he may understand. But the man at 
the Altar is giving expression to the great 
oratorio of worship, with its minor chords which 
experience has woven into his life drama, with 
its complex themes such as life has written for 
him, with the crash of tumultuous notes that 
work and burdens and defeats have created, but 
it closes with the climax of harmony which 

95 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

reveals the surrender of his individual will to 
the will of Almighty God. 

"So the man at the Altar is the conqueror, 
master of himself, bending wayward human im- 
pulses to God's plan, strong in his convictions, 
tender in his judgments, certain in his faith, 
fervent in his good works, and confident in 
Christ his Lord and Saviour." 

The Rector ceased, and rising, walked to his 
desk. Resting his head on his hands he added, 
somewhat wearily, 

"I would to God that my people might realize 
the richness of life which the Church is holding 
forth to them. They would never fail in faith- 
fulness could they see the unsearchable riches 
of Christ, instead of always gazing upon the 
earthly vessel which contains them." 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE HISTORIC MINISTRY, 

When the four friends gathered together the 
next week the Doctor brought an accusation 
against the Rector. 

"You were not at home last Sunday. I went 
to church and you were not there." 

"No. One has to get away once in a while. I 
was attending a service of ordii ation in the 
Cathedral." 

"You mean that some one was made a min- 
ister there?" 

"Yes, and more than that. A young deacon 
was ordained priest." 

"Do you have priests in the Episcopal 
Church?" asked the Doctor. 

"Of course. I am a priest." answered the 
Rector. "Why not?" he challenged. 

"Well, I have been accustomed to the titles 
minister, or preacher, or parson, but not the 
title priest." 

"It is a perfectly good word, Doctor. You 
are not one of those men, I know, who object to 

97 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

using a good word in its proper sense, merely 
because the popular mind has given some re- 
stricted meaning to the word." 

"No, I think I would use a word in its proper 
sense," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "1 imagine 
it is a matter of bringing up. I have associated 
the word with the Roman Church." 

"That is quite correct," answered the Rector. 
"But it is simple ignorance, to speak plainly, to 
restrict the use of the word to the Roman 
Church. There are thousands of priests not of 
the Roman Church." 

"Well, I see I am in for another exposition," 
said the Doctor laughing. 

"Queer study, this matter of titles," interjected 
the Major. "Never did quite understand why 
men of your profession were called ministers, 
clergymen, preachers, rectors and priests. Do 
they mean the same thing?" 

"Not at all, Major," answered the Rector. 
"They refer to different activities and functions. 
A man may be any one of them, or perhaps all 
of them, but they are not the same." 

"Elucidate," prompted the Major briefly. 

"The broadest term is minister. A person who 
ministers to another is properly a minister. A 
nurse is a minister; doctors are ministers." 

"News to me," put in the Doctor. 

98 



THE HISTORIC MINISTRY 

"In a general sense, I mean. When one be- 
comes a minister of religion he becomes a 
clergyman. The word clergyman, however, is 
commonly used only of ministers of the Episco- 
pal Church. 

"If the minister preaches, he becomes a 
preacher. To use the word preacher to desig- 
nate a minister is a most awkward and indis- 
criminate way of speaking. It has arisen from 
the fact that in many of the public services of 
which I spoke some time ago, the preaching has 
been the prominent part. A man stopped me on 
the street the other day and asked 'Are you a 
preacher?' I answered 'Frequently,' and that 
seemed to confuse him. It is literally true. I 
am a preacher about twice a week. 

"A rector is a priest in charge of a parish. 
The word means ruler. It refers to his responsi- 
bility as the chief executive of a parish. A man 
may be a priest without being a rector. I know 
several priests who are teachers." 

"That is clear," said the Doctor, "but what is 
a priest?" 

"A priest is one who has been ordained by a 
bishop to the priesthood. A priest may also be- 
come a preacher, a teacher, or a rector of a 
parish. It is an order of ministry to which he is 
duly set apart, and which he cannot relinquish 

99 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

except by being deposed. The priest of the 
Church not only is a minister, in that he serves 
the people, not only a parson, in that he serves 
as a clergyman, not only a preacher, but he is 
the authorized officer of the historic Church, to 
baptize, to administer the sacraments, and to 
make the authorized statement that God forgives 
the sins of the people." 

"Cannot any minister do all these things?" 
asked the Doctor. 

"He may do many of them, as a minister of 
Christ, but the priest of the Episcopal Church 
has authority to do all of them as a representa- 
tive also of the historic Church," said the Rec- 
tor plainly. 

"Where did the priest of the Episcopal Church 
get his authority?" asked the Doctor. 

"Let me ask you a question. Doctor," put in 
the Major. "Where did you get your authority 
to practice medicine?" 

"The State gave me a license. I had to study 
for it," and the Doctor laid emphasis upon his 
words. 

"You could not practice medicine in this State, 
no matter how hard you studied, if you did not 
have a license." 

"No indeed. Jail," said the Doctor briefly. 

100 



THE HISTORIC MINISTRY 

"Judge, where did you get your authority to 
sit on the bench?" asked the Major. 

"President's appointment and signed commis- 
sion," answered the Judge. 

"Why cannot our brilliant local lawyer set 
up a court, Doctor?" continued the Major. "He 
knows enough law." 

"No commission, no authority. I see your 
point. Go ahead," turning to the Rector. 

"Where did you suppose ministers to be 
created. Doctor?" pursued the Rector. 

"I thought that young men studied in theolo- 
gical schools and upon graduation took 
churches." 

"As young men study law and upon gradua- 
tion begin to practice? You miss one step in the 
process. Doctor. Your law student must be 
licensed by the State and become an offlcer of 
the court. A young man might be the most 
diligent theological student in the United States 
and the most brilliant preacher, but that would 
not give him authority. When he preached he 
would represent no one but himself. He does 
not need any special commission to become a 
preacher and he may connect himself with any 
religious body he desires, if he conforms to their 
requirements. But if he becomes a priest of the 
Episcopal Church he must not only study to 

101 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

pass intellectual examinations, but he must con- 
form to the worship, doctrine and discipline of 
the Episcopal Church, and then he is ordained to 
the priesthood by the Bishop. That ordination 
gives him authority to exercise his priesthood." 

"But cannot officers in other churches give au- 
thority?" 

"They can give such authority as they possess. 
You must remember that there are two general 
types of churches, the historic and the non-his- 
toric." 

"More news," commented the Doctor. "Ex- 
plain." 

"The historic churches are those that can trace 
their existence and ministry back to the Apos- 
tolic Church founded by Christ. These 
Churches have bishops. The non-historic 
churches are religious bodies organized by men 
in recent times. They are like religious lodges. 
They have no bishops, but various kinds of 
officers which were arranged for when they were 
organized. The officers of these non-historic 
churches may authorize a man to be one of their 
ministers. That is quite obvious. His authority 
is solely that of an officer in his own group. 
The non-historic churches are voluntary asso- 
ciations for promoting religion. But the Epis- 
copal Church is an historic church. It traces its 

103 



THE HISTORIC MINISTRY 

history and ministry to the Apostolic Church, 
founded by Jesus Christ. He gave authority to 
the Church and consequently to its ministry. 
That authority the Church has never lost. By it 
the bishop ordains men to the priesthood. For 
example, I am a priest. My authority to minister 
and rule in religious things is conferred by the 
bishop who acts for the Church, conferring the 
authority which Christ committed to the Church. 
Back of the bishop is the whole body of the his- 
toric church for nearly nineteen hundred years, 
in which the authority conferred by Jesus Christ 
has been preserved." 

"Do you mean to say, Rector," asked the Doc- 
tor, "that your bishops have direct authority 
from Jesus Christ?" 

"I mean that precisely," answered the Rector. 
"You must remember that Jesus Christ founded 
an organization, which He called His Church. 
He was not merely a great teacher, or a great 
example, but He definitely gave to the human 
race an organization, which should be the 
authorized and empowered agent for bringing 
the world to Him. For this organization. His 
Church, He set apart certain men, called Apos- 
j:les, and trained them. He instructed them in 
their duties, and established a means by which 
men could be incorporated into that organiza- 

103 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

tion, namely, baptism, and by which they could 
continue to live in it, namely, the Holy Commun- 
ion. It was a definite society, and its ofiicers 
were commissioned in a definite way." 

"Where do you learn all this?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"The early records of this organization are 
called the New Testament. You have heard of 
that?" asked the Rector smiling. 

"Many times," answered the Doctor. 

"It is quite plain in that book," continued the 
Rector. "The first oSicers of that organization 
were called Apostles. They enlarged their mem- 
bers and appointed and consecrated successors 
who should do their work when they themselves 
died. Those whom they appointed were called 
bishops. The bishops received their authority 
and power directly from the Apostles. The 
bishops consecrated not only their successors, 
but many other bishops, who enlarged the or- 
ganization and carried it to many lands. This 
process has continued throughout all the cen- 
turies. Every bishop of the Episcopal Church 
in the United States has been consecrated by at 
least three bishops. These in turn were conse- 
crated by earlier bishops. This succession of 
men, transmitting power and authority can be 
traced to Apostolic days as easily as the succes- 

104 



THE HISTORIC MINISTRY 

sion of presidents can be traced to George Wash- 
ington. Do you know why we use the adjective 
^Episcopal' in the title of our Church?" asked the 
Rector abruptly. 

"Never thought about it," admitted the Doc- 
tor. 

"Episcopal is an adjective, from a Greek word 
*Episkopos' which is the same word as our 
Anglo-Saxon word bishop. 'Episcopal Church' 
means a 'Church having bishops.' The bishops 
have been the chief pastors and administrative 
officers in the Church since the beginning. The 
succession of bishops from the Apostles' day, has 
never been lost to the Church." 

"Do you mean that your bishop who was here 
last winter, is one of a line of men which has had 
definite and continuous existence since the days 
of Christ?" 

"I mean exactly that. Doctor. You have stated 
it precisely. If our Lord had given St. John a 
ring, and had instructed him to give it to the 
bishop who was his successor, with directions 
that the ring was to be handed down to succeed- 
ing bishops, that ring might conceivably be in 
the possession of our own bishop today." 

"Of course this line of bishops in America, in 
direct succession from the English line, is of 
recent origin," said the Judge. 

105 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"To be sure, Judge. Dr. Samuel Seabury was 
consecrated Bishop of Connecticut by three 
Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church in 
Aberdeen, Scotland, November 14, 1784. Dr. 
William White was consecrated Bishop of 
Pennsylvania and Dr. Samuel Provoost, Bishop 
of New York, in the Chapel of Lambeth Palace, 
London, in 1787. These three bishops in Ameri- 
ca were authorized to consecrate others and in 
that way the Episcopal Church in America has 
its bishops. The line of succession extends thus 
Uirough the Church of England back to Apos- 
tolic days. 

"From the earliest days the bishops conse- 
crated priests. The word priest is derived from 
the Greek word *presbuteros' which means an 
older man. The priests worked in parishes un- 
der the direction of the bishops. A third office 
of the ministry, called deacon, was also insti- 
tuted. You may read about it in the sixth chap- 
ter of the Acts of the Apostles. A candidate for 
the priesthood must pass one year in the office 
of a deacon." 

"How many bishops are there in the Episcopal 
Church in the United States today?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"There are about one hundred and thirty 
bishops today. Every inch of territory of the 

106 



THE HISTORIC MINISTRY 

United States and all her possessions is under 
the jurisdiction of a bishop." 

"You spoke of the first three bishops in Ameri- 
ca receiving their consecration in England and 
Scotland. What is the relation of the Episcopal 
Church in the United States to the Church of 
England?" 

"The Episcopal Church in the United States is 
absolutely independent of the Church of Eng- 
land. Historically we derive our existence from 
the Church of England, and until the Revolu- 
tionary war all Episcopalians in America were 
members of the Church of England. Our 
colonies were colonies of England. But when 
the colonies became independent the Church 
became independent also. We are in full com- 
munion with the Church of England. That 
means that members of the Episcopal Church in 
America may go to any church in England or 
England's imperial possessions and have full 
spiritual privileges in the parishes. So any 
member of the Church of England has full 
spiritual privileges in our parishes. But so far 
as government is concerned we are absolutely 
independent. We are not the English Church. 
We are the American Church." 

"Our Church," said the Judge, "is essentially 
American in spirit and substance. Remember 

107 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

the great Americans who have been members of 
the Episcopal Church. George Washington was 
a devout communicant of the Church, and was a 
vestryman of the Church in Alexandria, Vir- 
ginia. The church in which he worshipped 
is still standing. 

"Benjamin Franklin was a member of the 
Episcopal Church. Thomas Jefferson was a 
member of the Episcopal Church. Two-thirds 
of the framers of the Constitution were mem- 
bers of the Episcopal Church. It is most impres- 
sive testimony to the influence of the Church in 
colonial days, and also to the staunch American- 
ism of many of its most conspicuous members. 

"The fact is," continued the Judge, "that the 
general organization of the Church in this land 
reflects the method of the federal administra- 
tion because the same minds were directing both 
organizations. I have often attended the Gen- 
eral Convention of our Church, which meets 
every three years. There are two Houses; the 
House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. 

"The House of Deputies consists of delegates 
from every Diocese, both clergymen and lay- 
men. 

"The whole arrangement is similar to our 
Congress, with its Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

108 



THE HISTORIC MINISTRY 

"This Convention meets for three weeks and 
legislates for the whole Church. Its member- 
ship is most distinguished and consists of leaders 
in every department of our national activities. 
It is the most influential religious gathering in 
America." 

"This is very interesting," said the Doctor, 
"but I should like to ask this question. You 
state that your Church has had continuous ex- 
istence from Apostolic days. Is it then the first 
or earliest Church?" 

"That question needs a careful answer. Doc- 
tor," replied the Rector. "You will realize that 
the earliest organization has had a troubled his- 
tory. Its identity has not been lost but its unity 
has been shattered. The Episcopal Church is 
only one of several historic churches." 

"It is too late tonight to begin on that," inter- 
jected the Major. "Let's save it until next 
week." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. 

When the Doctor reached the Rector's study 
the next week he saw upon the Rector's desk a 
long row of books. 

"Look at them, Doctor," urged the Rector. 

The Doctor selected one and began turning 
the pages. 

*Trhey seem to be histories," was his comment. 

"They are," asserted the Rector. "They are 
histories of the Christian Church." 

"Not very lively reading, Rector," suggested 
the Doctor. 

"Perhaps not, unless one is interested. But 
they are very wholesome reading for the average 
man, if not for their details, at least for the en- 
larging of his notion as to the place and influ- 
ence of the Church in the development of Euro- 
pean civilization." 

"They go back pretty far," said the Doctor. 
"Here is an account of a Church Council in the 
year 325 A. D." 

"They go back farther than that. It is curious 

110 



THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 

that many people have a notion that Christianity 
has always had its present form of numerous 
religious sects. Many think that because they 
have heard their grandfathers tell of condi- 
tions in their childhood that they have pene- 
trated into the past far enough to judge of con- 
ditions from the very beginning. That is not 
the case." 

"Evidently not," admitted the Doctor. "We 
are going somewhat further back tonight, are 
we not?" 

"We are indeed. And here come our fellow- 
students," said the Rector, greeting them. 

The Judge and the Major entered together. 

"Started yet. Rector?" asked the Major. 

"The drive is not yet begun," answered the 
Doctor, "but here is the ammunition," and he 
pointed to the books. 

"Is the ammunition dry?" asked the Major. 

"Tolerably dry. Major," said the Rector, "but 
more useful on that account." 

"Some old friends of mine here," said the 
Judge, picking up a volume. "It is a good thing 
to enlarge one's knowledge by an acquaintance 
with a few substantial books." 

"Quite right, Judge," said the Major. "Even 
the Doctor does not erect the science of medi- 
cine by individual effort. You use the accum- 

111 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

ulated efforts of the past, do you not, Doctor?" 

The Doctor smiled in assent. 

"You do not understand the Episcopal Church, 
Doctor," began the Rector, "unless you under- 
stand its historical background. Anyone who 
believes that the Church of this generation, or 
of the past few generations, invented our ritual 
and our practices, and our officers, much as a 
new lodge invents its formularies, is quite mis- 
taken. The Episcopal Church has a history that 
runs a thousand years beyond the time when 
religious denominations began to spring up." 

"Is it the oldest church, then. Rector?" asked 
the Doctor. 

"It is one part of the original Church, founded 
by Jesus Christ. There are other churches that 
have the same historic origin." 

"I presume you mean the Roman Catholic?" 

"Yes, and the great Greek Church, which is 
not Roman Catholic at all, and is the church of 
one hundred millions of people in the East, es- 
pecially the Russians." 

"Did the Episcopal Church spring from the 
Roman Catholic Church, Rector?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"Not at all. Its roots are in the same past, but 
since the second century, our Anglican Commu- 
nion has had distinct historic existence." 

112 



THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 

"Rector," interposed the Judge, "whj^ not be- 
gin at the beginning and trace its history?" 

"I shall be glad to do so. But first I must 
caution you on two points. You must not be 
confused by the question of names. The Episco- 
pal Church as a continuous body has had vari- 
ous names in the past. The stream can be traced 
back through various political and social 
changes, in all of which were evolved new 
phases of existence. And then again I must pro- 
test that I am not giving you merely present day 
theories about our origin, projected back into a 
shadowy past, but the verdict of reliable history, 
to be absolutely trusted in its general conclu- 
sions. This is not a belief, shadowy and indis- 
tinct, but a great fact to which all reliable his- 
tory bears testimony." 

"I understand," said the Doctor, pointing to 
the books. 

"In tracing the history of the Church I can 
give only the great main outlines, and that with 
special reference to the Church in England and 
our Church in America. 

"Our Lord Jesus Christ founded an institution 
which he called His Church. It was a definite 
organization. It had a constitution, which we 
call the Faith. It had officers. Apostles, Bishops, 
Priests and Deacons. It had sources of spiritual 

113 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

power and life, called sacraments; it was to rep- 
resent Him, and to do what He would do were 
He able to be on earth everywhere and for all 
time. St. Paul calls this Church 'Christ's Body,' 
so closely associated was it with Him. Its life 
began on Whitsunday at Jerusalem, in the year 
29, ten days after our Lord left the earth. 

"This organization was very small at first, but 
it had the power to grow and enlarge. The 
apostles consecrated successors, called bishops, 
to carry on the Church. The bishops ordained 
priests and deacons. The Church wrote its own 
history. We call it the New Testament. But 
there are numerous other historical documents 
which tell us of the growth of the organization. 

"The Church thus founded spread about the 
Mediterranean Sea. By the year 100 A. D., it ex- 
isted in Africa, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy and 
Gaul. Before the end of the second century it 
had been planted in the island of Britain. It was 
one great universal organization, holding a com- 
mon faith, having the same ininistry, adminis- 
tering the same sacraments, and preaching the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

"But as it grew it began to be influenced by the 
national customs and languages of the lands to 
which it extended. In the East the services were 
held in Greek and in the West in Latin. In 

114 



THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 

various sections the Church used the local 
tongues. 

"But it was one universal Church. The word 
universal is the same as the word Catholic. The 
Church was Catholic in the sense that it was uni- 
versal. That is the sense in which we use the 
word in the Creed. You must not confuse this 
use of the word with the popular use in our day, 
when people mistakenly say Catholic, when they 
mean Roman Catholic. In these early centuries 
the use of the words Roman Catholic, was un- 
known. There was a branch of the Catholic or 
Universal Church in Rome, just as there was in 
Greece and Egypt and England. 

"Naturally during the first three centuries the 
Church began, in various places, to assume a 
pronounced national character. In Greece, 
Greeks would be chosen to the ministry and in 
England the Britains would be chosen. These 
men would naturally share in the national life 
and aspirations of their lands. 

"By the year 323 A. D., the Church Universal 
had grown so powerful throughout the great 
Roman Empire that Constantine the Emperor 
declared Christianity to be the authorized re- 
ligion of the Empire. 

"Under his direction a great Council was 
called at Nicea in Asia Minor. Here came to- 
ns 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

gether 318 bishops and other prelates represen- 
tative of every part of the Universal Church. 

"This Council set forth the Nicene Creed, as a 
somewhat more complete exposition of the 
Christian Faith than the Apostles' Creed. This 
Nicene Creed is in our Prayer Books and we use 
it every Sunday at the Service of the Holy Com- 
munion. 

"But you must remember that great political 
and social changes were taking place at this 
time. 

"There were bishops at every great center and 
in countless small cities. It was natural that 
the bishops of very large cities should have 
power which the other bishops did not have. 
They associated themselves with the political 
development of the time. So it came to pass that 
in two cities especially, Constantinople and 
Rome, the bishops began to assume a leader- 
ship among their fellows. By 500 A. D. the 
Bishops of both Constantinople and Rome had 
assumed power in the Church which brought 
disaster. In Rome this was the beginning of a 
tendency which later developed into the Papacy 
or the assumption of the Bishop of Rome of a 
position of authority over the whole Church. 

"You must remember, however, that the 
Church in Rome was not at that time what it is 

IIG 



THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 

today, but was still part of the Universal Church, 
in spite of these claims of its Bishops. 

"These claims were resisted by the branch of 
the Church in Constantinople, and so serious did 
the conflict become that finally the Church in the 
East and the Church at Rome separated. This 
was in the year 1054. At this time Rome had 
succeeded in bringing all the churches in south- 
ern Europe under its sway. The Church of Eng- 
land alone remained beyond its uncontested 
authority. The Church of England, while 
acknowledging Rome as the metropolis of 
Christendom, and maintaining relations more or 
less obscure and vague with that metropolis, 
was nevertheless in no essential manner depen- 
dent for its existence upon Rome. The Church 
in England was complete in itself. In the mean- 
time the churches about the southern shore 
of the Mediterranean and in Asia Minor had 
been destroyed by the invasion of the Turks. 
In 1054 the East and the West separated and the 
Continental Church was broken into two parts. 
The Church in England retained its ori- 
ginal standing. The year 1054 marks histori- 
cally the separate existence of the branch of the 
Universal Church in Rome as distinctly the Ro- 
man Catholic Church. 

"Let us see what was happening in England. 

117 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"The Church had been brought to England in 
the second century. It had its full organization 
there and was a part of the Universal Church, 
and was represented at the Council of Nicea in 
325 A. D. This may be called the British or Cel- 
tic period of the Church in Britain, which later 
becomes known to us as the Church of England. 

"In the fourth and fifth centuries the Angles, 
Saxons, and Jutes invaded England and drove 
the original inhabitants, the Celts, or Britains, 
with the Church, toward the west, into Ireland, 
Cornwall, and Wales. Thus Britain became 
heathen again after having had the Church for 
three centuries. 

"Immediately the Church began an effort to 
convert these heathen invaders, and missionaries 
from the Celtic Church made their way back 
again among the Anglo-Saxons. This effort at 
conversion was reinforced by another effort 
which came from the continent of Europe. St. 
Augustine, with a band of followers, represent- 
ing the same Universal Church of which the 
Celtic Church was a part, landed in Kent and 
came to Canterbury. There he found a church 
building which had not been destroyed by the 
invaders. This church building, called St. Mar- 
tin's, still stands just as St. Augustine found it 
in 597 A. D., and is visited today by great throngs 

118 



THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 

of people who see in it another witness to the his- 
toric continuity of the Church of England. 

"After some controversy and conflict the ef- 
forts of Augustine and the efforts of the Celtic 
missionaries blended into one great structure in 
which the outlines of the Church of England as 
at present existing are clearly seen. The ancient 
British stream of Christianity and the stream 
from Rome through Augustine flowed together 
into the mighty river of the English Church, in 
the seventh century. 

"This united Church preceded the united 
Kingdom, and by the eff'orts of the Church the 
united Kingdom was established. 

"During this period the Church of England 
maintained an indefinite and unnecessary re- 
lationship with Rome, whose far more advanced 
political and social organization gave her an ap- 
pearance of power and authority which over- 
shadowed the English Church, struggling toward 
control of the conditions necessary to its con- 
tinuance and well-being. But you must not for- 
get that this was before the day in which Rome 
had acquired those later additions to which we 
object. At that time both the Church of 
England and the Church of Rome were con- 
scious of being part of a greater unity, namely 
the Church Catholic, or the Church Universal. 

119 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"Up to the year 1066 the Church continued to 
grow strong, having preserved all the necessary 
functions by which it maintained its continuous 
existence from the Church of Apostolic days. 

"In the year 1066 however, a great political 
change took place. William the Norman came 
to England from France and conquered the land. 
William the Norman was a Roman Catholic. 
That is to say, he owed allegiance to the West- 
ern Church in Europe which, having separated 
from the Eastern Church in 1054, now laid claim 
to the allegiance of all Christians in the West. 
England, because of its isolation, had been some- 
what exempt from these pretensions. When 
William conquered the land, however, he pro- 
ceeded to attempt to control the Church and to 
bring it into subjection to the Church of Rome. 
The Church of England resisted this vigorously 
and the next four hundred years of its history 
is a period of continual conflict against the ag- 
gressions of the Church of Rome. The rulers of 
the nation were often adherents of the Church of 
Rome however, and by their power put Roman 
Catholic officials in high places. History gives 
us many evidences of this struggle. The charter 
of English liberty, called Magna Charta, the 
parchment of which still exists in the British 
Museum in London, asserts as one of its princi- 

120 



THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 

pies, that the Church of England shall be for- 
ever free and inviolable. This struggle of the 
Church of England for independence might have 
continued much longer had it not been for the 
rise of an occasion in which the King of England 
rejected the authority of the Pope. This was the 
famous King Henry VIII. He was a Roman 
Catholic and a vicious man. I know that you 
have heard the myth that he founded the Church 
of England, but this is only a popular legend fos- 
tered by the Church of Rome to discredit the 
historical existence of the Church of England. 
King Henry VIII wished to divorce his wife, 
for which he asked permission from the Pope. 
The Pope refused to give him permission and 
he rejected the Pope's authority. When the 
King turned against the power of the Church of 
Rome in England, the Church of England found 
its opportunity to drive out all Roman control, 
and in 1534 the legal steps were taken which 
made it impossible for the Church of Rome ever 
again to regain any control over the Church of 
England. This was called the period of the Ref- 
ormation. From that time to the present day 
the Church of England has retained its rights 
and its property with only two brief struggles, 
one against the power of Queen Mary, and 
the other against Oliver Cromwell and his puri- 

121 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

tans. Thus the Church of England can trace its 
existence from this present year back through 
all the troublous times of the Reformation, 
back through the period of Roman influence, 
back into the clearer days of the Anglo-Saxons, 
back past the invasion of England by the Anglo- 
Saxons, back through the Celtic Church to the 
planting of the Church in Rritain in the second 
century, a branch of the Apostolic Church. 

"The Episcopal Church in the United States 
grew directly out of the Church of England and 
whatever historic spiritual authority has resided 
within the Church of England is the possession 
of the Episcopal Church in America. The first 
services in this country were held in Jamestown 
in 1607 by Robert Hunt, the chaplain who came 
over with Captain John Smith on his memorable 
voyage. This was thirteen years before the 
Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Later many 
clergymen of the Church of England came to the 
Colonies and many of our parishes in the east- 
ern cities are several hundred years old." 

"I have visited some of the old churches," 
said the Doctor. 

"We have many parishes of early Colonial 
days. Trinity Church in New York city, was 
organized in 1697. The first parish in Boston was 
organized even earlier, in 1686. It gives one a 

122 



THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 

sense of the age of our Church to visit these 
parishes founded before the Revolution. But I 
had a more impressive experience once. I was in 
Chester, in England, and one Sunday evening 
went to service in a little church which I had dis- 
covered almost by chance. I found the parish in 
the midst of an anniversary service, celebrating, 
as I now remember, the 1237th year of its organ- 
ization. Think of it! It gave me a thrill to 
realize that the great spiritual household, of 
which my parish was a part, had ministered on 
that spot for so many years. I learned that 
the very building in which I sat was erected in 
the eleventh century. This made me realize that 
our American Episcopal Church was yet young, 
and that its strength was not yet tried; that there 
were before it glorious years of growth and 
struggle ; that it had a mission to our nation not 
yet discharged; that in God's time, if it perse- 
vered, it would bring to our land the untold bles- 
sings of a firm faith and the blessings of count- 
less treasures of loving service in the name of 
Christ. We grow impatient. Doctor, at our slow 
progress, but we must realize that the Church 
will ultimately grow into a mighty and all-pre- 
vailing Kingdom, if it holds fast, with persever- 
ing stewardship, the riches of life and faith, 
which have been committed to its keeping." 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE BACKGROUND OF WORSHIP. 

The four friends had gathered as usual about 
the fire in the Rector's study. The Doctor was 
examining a picture of an English Cathedral 
hung above the stone mantle. 

"A great building," was his comment. "They 
make our modern churches seem common- 
place." 

"Many of them are so," said the Judge. "But 
we must not judge entirely by appearances. Our 
own church is very simple and yet we love it. 
Churchmen have a deep sense of appreciation 
of the sacredness of the Church structure." 

"You say Churchmen, Judge," declared the 
Doctor. "Do you mean Episcopalians?" 

"I do." answered the Judge. "I prefer the 
word Churchmen, however. For several cen- 
turies this word has been used to designate those 
who adhere to the historic Church. You need 
only consult the Century Dictionary if you ask 
authority for this use of the word." 

The Rector walked to his bookcase and drew 

124 



THE BACKGROUND OF WORSHIP 

out the volume. Turning to the word 'Church- 
man' he read — 

" 'Churchman — specifically, a member of the 
Church of England as distinguished from a dis- 
senter; in the United States, a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church, as distinguished 
from a member of any other Church.' " 

"That appears to be sufficient authority," ad- 
mitted the Doctor. "I have noticed that Church- 
men, to use the word, are very loyal to their 
Church. They seldom desert it. They seem to 
love the very building." 

"Quite true," the Judge assured him. "And 
every parish church has a peculiar glory which 
we see through all its simplicity." 

"Your church is quite plain in its appoint- 
ments but it has an atmosphere that recalls 
sacred things," added the Doctor. 

"The parish church is a symbol of the com- 
plete riches of the historic Church," continued 
the Judge. "We feel ourselves to be not only 
in the presence of that particular set of familiar 
associations, but in the full current of the 
Church's life throughout all the centuries." 

"I never quite realized that," asserted the Doc- 
tor. "The building itself has never meant much 
more to me than a convenient place to assemble 
the people. The service was merely a conven- 

125 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

lent method of holding a religious exercise for 
the congregation." 

"You are missing all the background of it, 
Doctor," broke in the Rector. "You are missing 
all the sense of contact with the richness of the 
Church's life for a thousand years. That is per- 
haps the hardest thing to create in the minds of 
the people, but once formed it never loses its 
power and charm." 

Here the Major interrupted. 

"Last summer I went to Concord, Massachu- 
setts, and visited the home of Louisa M. Alcott. 
Have you ever been there, Doctor?" 

"Several times. Charming place." 

"But why so fascinating?" urged the Major. 
"A very simple house, with no pretense at 
originality in design or construction. There are 
hundreds of houses like it in New England. 
Why do multitudes visit it every year?" 

"You know as well as I do. Major," affirmed 
the Doctor. "Miss Alcott made it live in the 
imaginations of countless thousands of young 
people by her books." 

"You are right. It has an historical back- 
ground. Imagination has elevated it into a 
shrine. It is the same with the Church." 

"How is that the case with your parish 
church which has never had any such illuminat- 

126 



THE BACKGROUND OF WORSHIP 

ing interpreter as the old Alcott house had?" 
and he gave an apologetic look at the Rector. 
"Has it, Rector?" he concluded. 

"The parish church," began the Rector, "is 
illumined and transformed by the whole of 
which it is a very small part. When I enter it 
I feel that it is part of a great structure that for 
nearly nineteen centuries has been enriching the 
world. The church suggests to me all these 
greater and remote things." 

"Our church is but a feeble reflection of all 
this treasure, but imagination, the most wonder- 
ful gift by which the commonplace is trans- 
formed into the glorious, imagination begins 
to pour the treasure of the past into the present. 

"When I minister within the sacred walls of 
our church, I feel myself to be not only in the 
presence of the few who are gathered there, but 
of the countless throngs who have assembled 
throughout the centuries to share in the same 
service, part of the same historic Church, mem- 
bers of Christ in the same household. I think 
of the saints and martyrs who proclaimed the 
same faith which our congregation proclaims. 
I think of the ancient Celtic people who, while 
the Romans were still in England, in their rude 
structures knelt before the altar to partake of 
the Bread of Life, administered by a priest, of 

137 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

the same historic priesthood in which I have a 
part. I think of the later Anglo-Saxon Chris- 
tians, our ancestors, converted and baptized by 
their priests and erecting their altars to God. I 
think of the later congregations in Norman 
times, assembling in their cathedrals and giving 
praise to God. And I think of the Church of to- 
day, spread abroad to every corner of the earth 
where the English language is spoken. On every 
Sunday, aye, on nearly every day of the year, 
'from the rising of the sun to the going down 
thereof — a mighty chorus of prayer and praise 
and sacrifice encircles the globe, in the worship 
of God, from congregations of Churchmen, led 
by priests and using the Book of Common 
Prayer. We are but a single link in a great chain 
of worship that never ceases. We of the Episco- 
pal Church feel that. We know we are not alone. 

"One of the most impressive experiences of 
my life was at the great Albert Hall, in London, 
where ten thousand Churchmen, gathered from 
every land, from England and America, from 
Australia, from Japan and China, and from the 
isles of the sea, arose, and with one voice 
recited the Apostles' Creed. It made me realize 
that when our little congregation asserts its 
faith, it is but part of a vast multitude, millions 
upon millions of people, who, in every part of 

128 



THE BACKGROUND OF WORSHIP 

the earth, are proclaiming their faith in God and 
Christ and their love for men." 

"I shall remember that when we say the Creed 
next Sunday," put in the Judge. "It seems a 
feeble exercise when one thinks of it as merely 
an individual expression, but it is a mighty 
proclamation when millions unite to assert its 
everlasting truth." 

"Again," continued the Rector, "the little 
church begins, under the powerful influence of 
imagination, to sink into the shadow, and out in- 
to the sunlight of my mind comes the majestic 
outline of the great Cathedral, such as the one 
you were looking at, Doctor. I am no longer in 
the seclusion of my parish with only its simple 
structure, but in the vast stretches of those his- 
toric buildings, which are spiritually as much 
our possession as our own church. Our church 
is not the limit of our ecclesiastical associations 
and is not intended to confine our thoughts to its 
own limitations, but it serves as a window 
through which appears the greater vision which 
is really ours. For the mighty structures of old, 
although they are confined to a place, have in 
them unbounded wealth of association which 
our people may absorb and make their own. 
Even as a book, read by one's fireside, may open 
up a world in which men live and act, and in 

129 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

whose lives and loves, thoughts and actions, we 
may become so absorbed that we really feel part 
of that world, so that we laugh and cry with 
them; even so the parish church is but a book, 
the reading of which places us in the larger 
world of the Church's possessions. I reach out, 
in thought, to all the greater places, which I 
may call my own as completely as do those who 
live in sight of their walls; I am in the Cathedral, 
whose tall pillars support the majestic arches; 
in the vista of the nave I see the priceless win- 
dows, constructed by the loving hands of conse- 
crated artists. The vast spaces suggest the glory 
of the Heavenly places. The rich toned organ 
pours forth its melodies. The long procession 
of white vested choristers wends its way through 
nave to choir, followed by richly robed priests, 
of the same ministry as my own. On they go 
to the great Altar and then I hear the familiar 
words carried to every heart of the kneeling con- 
gregation. I am not isolated with only my 
people, but we are all together in the splendor 
of the worship of the Church of all the centuries. 
Every word, every phrase, every vestment, 
every article of furniture, every hymn, every as- 
sociation and custom of our worship, is but a 
reflection of a glorious past in which the count- 
less worshippers have upbuilded an enduring 

130 



THE BACKGROUND OF WORSHIP 

structure which shelters us in its beneficence. 
And all is charged, not alone with the richness 
of man's spiritual expression, but with the very 
presence of God." 

"Do all your people feel that. Rector?" asked 
the Doctor quietly. 

"Perhaps not, but they may, if they will but 
surrender themselves to the conviction that they 
are a part of a great Church that for nineteen 
hundred years has been bringing men to God 
and creating a structure whose riches are theirs. 
To isolate the parish church from its back- 
ground, to insulate it from the great body of 
which it is a part, is to impoverish it." 

"But is there not danger of forgetting the 
needs of the present under the fascination of the 
past?" asked the Doctor. "Imagination may 
create an unreal world, while the problems of 
the present are pressing upon us." 

"No indeed. Doctor. You will realize that I 
am endeavoring to illumine the worship. The 
work of the Church is to bring the reality of God 
and His law and love, and His revelation in 
Christ, to the lives and hearts of men. The wor- 
ship is to enrich the life and make it capable of 
the best service. But it is only when one realizes 
that the spiritual nature of man must be 
strengthened in order that his life may be made 

131 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

useful and happy, and free from sin, that one 
realizes that the spiritual riches of the past must 
be appropriated. Our worship does this. We 
are building upward but our foundation must be 
secure. We shall never have a powerfully 
developed people unless the past furnishes them 
with its best." 

"Has not the Church in times past given man 
some of his most cherished spiritual possessions 
expressed in great artistic creations?" asked the 
Judge. 

"It has. Our Church, throughout its long his- 
tory, has been a workshop in which the most 
venerated of the creations of the past have been 
forged. And this conviction creeps over me in 
the service, too. I long to feel that the Church in 
the present may be as abundantly powerful in 
creating those spiritual structures by which men 
are enriched as the Church in the past has been. 

"I think of the ways in which the consecrated 
human spirit has expressed itself for the glory 
of God and the service of men. The great 
Cathedrals of England are an example of what I 
mean. They are ours as much as Shakespeare 
is ours. They are not the result of the efforts of 
school trained architects, assisted by construc- 
tion companies. Many of them were a hundred 
years in building. They arose from the conse- 

133 



THE BACKGROUND OF WORSHIP 

crated effort of religious people. New designs 
were evolved from a growing appreciation of the 
laws of structure, and of the beauty of line and 
proportion. Whole populations found a means 
of spiritual expression in working upon the 
growing temple. Workers in stone skillfully 
formed the great blocks, and many a man spent 
his life with his hammer and chisel in giving 
beauty to the walls. Workers in metal were 
ministers of beauty and strength. Artificers 
wrought the wonders of glass. And today they 
stand not only for us to admire, but they stand to 
instruct us in appreciation of the wonders of the 
human spirit, when consecrated to noblest serv- 
ice. They are a gospel in stone, a gospel of the 
divine in man. And I rejoice to worship in our 
Church because it is part of that stream of 
Christian power in which those great Cathedrals 
were upbuilded to the glory of God. 

"I love to think, when I read the Bible to the 
people, that not only did the Church preserve 
the Bible, but it translated the Bible from its 
original tongues and placed it before the world. 
Within the Church also have arisen the count- 
less scholars, who, by devotion and study, have 
bequeathed to all Christendom the most valu- 
able possessions of Christian scholarship. Every 
Christian is indebted to them. 

133 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"I might enlarge upon these things, Doctor, 
but I feel that one evening would not suffice 
to rehearse even a small portion of them. 

*'Back into the past stretches the long corridor 
of our Church's life. Through one century after 
another it extends, even until it approaches that 
Figure who gave it life and being. Every cen- 
tury has contributed its part. Art, architecture, 
music, literature and learning, have all been 
humble handmaids to the historic Church. 
They have contributed to its growth and power, 
to its beauty and to its contact with the spiritual 
aspirations of the people. 

"I cannot undervalue all this history. It has 
meant too much to the world. And today I re- 
joice that I am serving a Church which has 
brought such treasures to men. I rejoice that I 
can bring my people a vision of the past which 
will fill their minds with images never to be for- 
gotten, a vision of the wondrous ways in which 
men consecrated to God have given expression 
to the beauties of His Kingdom." 

The Rector ceased. All kept silent for a while. 
Finally the Doctor asked the question, "Do you 
try to make your people feel all this when they 
go to church?" 

"Not only when they go to church. Doctor, but 
always. Their Christian life and their share in 

134 



THE BACKGROUND OF WORSHIP 

the Kingdom is not confined to the hour at 
church. That serves but to recall and keep fresh 
their constant relation to God, in His Church. 
They should feel, at home and at work, that they 
share in God's Kingdom on earth. But it is more 
powerfully felt at church. Do not misunder- 
stand me. It is not for itself that we try to en- 
large the vision and arouse the imagination. We 
do so because it quickens the spiritual impulse, 
and when the spiritual impulse is quickened it 
arouses the desire not only to share in the King- 
dom but to serve it. And then comes the desire 
to work and to serve men in this world. 

"This means that our spiritual nature must 
find, under the guidance of the Church today, its 
method of creative expression. The Church to- 
day will not create architecture and be satisfied 
with that. It will not create music or art and 
rejoice in that. That day has passed. We shall in- 
deed perpetuate in architecture, art, and music, 
the splendors of the past, and they may develop 
under the cultivation of centuries. But this 
great historic Church must find in this century 
its method of expression and not merely repro- 
duce the past." 

"And what do you think the contribution of 
the Church will be, in this century?" asked the 
Doctor. 

135 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"It is too early to determine, Doctor," admitted 
the Rector. "But there are several strong ten- 
dencies any one of which may result in the 
Church's contribution to the spiritual wealth of 
the age. One of them may be called the effort 
of the Church to supply the elements that are 
missing in our democracy, and without which 
democracy will fail, and they are the elements 
of unselfishness and righteousness. Or it may be 
that the Church will find its highest mission to 
be the social uplift of humanity — so that justice 
may prevail in our land. Or it may be that the 
Episcopal Church may find that its adherence 
to its past and to its faith will be the moving 
power under which divided and distracted 
Christendom will be guided to reunion and 
strength. Or it may be that the Church's devo- 
tion to the services of the Altar, according to 
Christ's own direction, will be the central in- 
fluence by which the people will be led from 
godlessness, from fads and fancies in religion, to 
the contemplation and worship and discipleship 
of the Christ crucified for man, and thus restore 
to wavering religions their central strength. I 
do not know. But I do know that if men 
feel the glory of its past, they will be more eager 
to maintain its glory in the future. And when, 
in God's time, there emerges the crowning work 

136 



THE BACKGROUND OF WORSHIP 

of the Church in this century they will rejoice 
that they had their share in it." 

"And if I wish to have a share in it what 
should I do?" asked the Doctor. 

"You should become part of it. Half hearted 
allegiance or unwillingness to let all the riches 
of the Church possess you will avail nothing. 
Be loyal. Learn of the Church's past, and the 
glory of it. Learn of its present, its needs and 
struggles. Do not stand afar off and pretend to 
judge of the Church, and perhaps condemn it, 
or ignore it, but share in its work and hopes and 
ideals. Better be a toiler in the Church than 
one indifferent or critical. Then live this 
life, whole-heartedly. Learn what discipleship 
in Christ means. For the Church is nothing 
apart from Him. Share its faith and be true to 
Him. Make it a matter of practical effort to 
absorb all that the Church has, not an occasional 
or partial element of it. Be whole-hearted in it, 
and then you will be a worthy servant of your 
Master." 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. 

"I WENT to church again last Sunday," began 
the Doctor as the group assembled about the 
cheery fire. 

"Always welcome," said the Judge. "How 
does it impress you, now?" 

"It is beginning to seem quite the normal thing 
to do. The service means something to me and 
I believe that I have forgotten to feel that it was 
once quite formal." 

"Are you getting accustomed to the Prayer 
Book, Doctor?" asked the Judge. 

"Somewhat. But I do have a little difficulty in 
finding the places." 

"Let me give you a suggestion. In such an 
important matter a little attention to the Prayer 
Book is worth while. It is not as complex as 
you imagine. I would advise you, and everyone 
who has any difficulty, to sit down quietly at 
home and to turn over the pages and read the 
headings and also the directions printed in small 
type, called rubrics. 

138 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 

"Many of the services are occasional such as 
the Service of Baptism. The customary services 
are Morning and Evening Prayer, from page 1 
to 29, The Litany from page 30 to 36 and the 
Service of Holy Communion from page 221 to 
243. If you read those pages carefully you will 
find it easy to foUow^ the service." 

"But you stated some time ago that while the 
structure of the service was the same, the sub- 
stance of it changed from Sunday to Sunday. 
How may one find the parts that change?" 

''Morning Prayer has four variable parts : the 
opening sentences, all of which are printed on 
pages 1 to 3, but only two or three of which are 
used at any service; the Psalms, which are 
selected from the Book of Psalms printed on 
pages 329 to 508, and which are announced; the 
Lessons from the Bible, read by the Minister; 
and the Chants, or Canticles, which are used 
after the lessons. 

"In the Service of Holy Communion there is 
but one variable part, that which we call the 
Collect, Epistle and Gospel. Beginning on page 
52 you will find printed, in succession, a Collect, 
Epistle and Gospel for every Sunday and Holy 
Day of the year. To find these requires a little 
more practice, since you must know what Sun- 
day or Holy Day is being observed, and where 

139 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

on these pages the Collect, Epistle and Gospel 
are to be found. In our church there is a bulle- 
tin board, at the top of which is posted the name 
of the Sunday or Holy Day, and under which 
is given the page in the Prayer Book on which 
the Collect, Epistle and Gospel are to be found." 

"What is the Collect?" asked the Doctor. 

"The Collect is an ancient name for a Prayer. 
The Epistle is a portion of one of the Epistles of 
the New Testament, and the Gospel is a portion 
of one of the four Gospels. They are arranged 
to set forth the great facts in our Lord's life and 
teaching. 

"You must remember, Doctor, that the Episco- 
pal Church observes the Christian Year. There 
are eight seasons, seven of which set forth the 
facts of our Lord's life, and one sets forth His 
teaching. 

"This is a part of the educational effort of the 
Church. It also provides a method that is sym- 
pathetic with the instinct of men to have times 
and seasons in which to enjoy the various phases 
of human experience." 

"How old is this arrangement?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"It began with the origin of Christianity but 
it has developed during the centuries. Almost 
every religious body pays it a tribute by observ- 

140 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 

ing some portion of the Christian year. For ex- 
ample, the Christian world observes Christmas 
and Easter. They are the great mountain peaks 
in the range of Christian observance practiced 
by the historic Churches." 

"I know, of course, the general meaning of the 
observance of Christmas and Easter. What are 
the other seasons?" 

"The Christian year begins near Decem- 
ber first with a season of four weeks, called Ad- 
vent. The word 'advent' means coming. Look 
on page 52 of the Prayer Book and you will find 
the title of the first Sunday of the Christian year, 
The First Sunday in Advent.' In this season 
the Church sets forth the truth and facts of the 
expectation of our Lord's first and second com- 
ing to earth. 

"This is followed, naturally, by the presenta- 
tion of the fact of His first coming, in the Christ- 
mas season. (Prayer Book, page 58). This sea- 
son lasts twelve days. 

"It is followed by the Epiphany season which 
begins January 6th. (Prayer Book, page 69). 
The word Epiphany means a showing forth, or 
manifestation, and in this season the Church 
emphasizes the fact that Jesus Christ came to 
be the Saviour, not of the Jews only, but of all 
people. 

141 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"Epiphany is followed by Lent which is a 
season of prayer and fasting. (Prayer Book, 
page 86). Within the season of Lent and 
especially toward its close, as on Good Friday, 
the Church sets forth the facts of our Lord's 
death upon the Cross. (Page 118.) 

"Lent is followed by Easter. (Page 125.) It is 
a strange fact that many churches observe Easter 
but do not observe Good Friday which precedes 
it. The Easter message completes the Good 
Friday message. It is a strangely inconsistent 
and spiritually confusing thing to keep Easter 
and pay no attention to Good Friday. But the 
observance of Good Friday is increasing. 

"The Easter season lasts forty days, the time 
our Lord remained on earth after the Resurrec- 
tion, and is followed by the Ascension season, 
beginning with Ascension Day. At this time the 
Church commemorates our Lord's Ascension 
into Heaven. This season lasts ten days. (Page 
140.) 

"Ascension-tide is followed by Whitsunday, 
always a Sunday. This day is commemorated 
as the day on which the Holy Spirit descended 
upon the Apostles. This is the birthday of the 
Christian Church. (Page 143.) 

"These seven seasons occupy about six months 
of the year. 

142 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 

"Whitsunday is followed by the Trinity sea- 
son, which lasts about six months. (Prayer 
Book, page 148, on). During this season the 
Church sets forth our Lord's teaching." 

"What is the advantage of the Christian 
year?" asked the Doctor. 

"There are many advantages. In the first 
place it secures attention, in proper order, to 
the great truths of Christianity. It is not hap- 
hazard. This orderly progression of the presen- 
tation of the facts of our Lord's life is impressive 
and instructive. 

"Again, it provides variety. Every Sunday 
has its burden of truth and power. The colors, 
the hymns, the sermon, all blend to give it 
distinctiveness." 

"I can go into any Episcopal Church," said the 
Judge, "and determine the season almost at 
once." 

"Not only that. Judge," urged the Rector, "but 
the Church throughout the world is using practi- 
cally the same service on any Sunday. For you 
must remember. Doctor, that the Christian year 
is not a device of the Episcopal Church, but it is 
a great historical expression of the conscious- 
ness of the relation of times and seasons to our 
vital experiences." 

"But is it a matter of Sunday alone?" 

143 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"Not at all. All time, week days and Sundays, 
is included. One season merges into another. 
There are many week days which the Church 
observes. One who gets the full sense of the 
beauty of the Christian year becomes conscious 
of the sacred nature of time, irrespective of any 
arrangement of days. The hard and fast differ- 
ence between Sundays and week days is a 
modern notion, which tends to eliminate the 
exercise of religious feeling or practice from six 
days of the week. The Christian year corrects 
this misconception." 

"What about Lent? Do you not become more 
strict in Lent?" 

"In a certain way, yes," admitted the Rector. 

"I do not see why a Christian should be more 
strict in Lent. It seems to me to be somewhat 
formal to observe Lent." 

"I am afraid. Doctor, that you measure the 
Church by one set of standards and other 
activities by a different set." 

"What do you mean by that?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"Merely this. The whole world applies the 
principle of Lent to its affairs. You seem to 
affirm that to have a special time to pay atten- 
tion to some human need is formal. But Lent is 
merely an educational and disciplinary season. 

144 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 

You apply it in a score of ways, as I said. For 
example, you believe in education." 

"Surely," said the Doctor. 

"But do you not set certain hours and certain 
seasons for your child's education? By common 
consent the child goes to school during the 
middle of the day and for about ten months of 
the year." 

"That is a necessary arrangement," urged the 
Doctor. 

"So is Lent! The Church ministers to 
thousands of people, even as the schools do. So 
it must arrange times and seasons. Lent is such 
an arrangement." 

"I understand so far," admitted the Doctor, 
"but why have special religious exercises and 
habits for so short a time and not for the whole 
year?" 

"You take a vacation, do you not, Doctor?" 

"Yes, when I can." 

"It's a good thing for you, is it not? If so, why 
not make the whole year a vacation? You play 
golf, do you not?" continued the Rector with- 
out waiting for a reply. "It is a fine exercise. 
Why not play all the time? You read medical 
books. Why not spend your whole day at it? 

"You misunderstand Lent, Doctor. The 
average man is so absorbed with duties and 

145 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

social affairs that he would fail to pay proper at- 
tention to his own individual needs were he 
never to have the direction of the Church in ar- 
ranging a time, a season. 

"Lent is a time for discipline, for paying at- 
tention to the needs of one's own soul, for de- 
termining who is master, the man or his appe- 
tites. It is a time when he forgoes some of his 
usual but unnecessary occupations and social 
engagements, and turns his thoughts to matters 
of his eternal welfare. His sacrifices, his 
abstinence from purely social affairs, are merely 
an effort toward disengaging himself from dis- 
tracting conditions. In the time thus gained, he 
weighs his life according to its larger relations. 
He does not give up the theatre because the 
theatre is necessarily wrong, but because he 
wishes to clear life of its less important activi- 
ties, in favor of discipline. He does it for the 
same reason that the man with an important 
work to do must clear away the obstructing en- 
gagements. 

"Then, in the time thus gained and with the 
use of the mental attention thus secured, he tries 
to upbuild spiritual strength. 

"There are many people, Doctor, who scarcely 
dare to face their own spiritual condition and 
life's deepest meaning and responsibilities. 

146 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 

They would smother the truth by a constant 
round of petty activities and attentions which 
keep the more serious duties and respon- 
sibilities from them. They live on a kind of ex- 
citement, or at least with mind centered on tem- 
poral and passing things. To those who have 
such a tendency Lent comes as a time of sober 
reflection, renewed effort at righteousness, and 
refreshed souls. 

"I know that some people think of it as a time 
of gloom and joylessness and despondency. 
That is a total misunderstanding of it. One does 
not give up his usual recreation merely to irri- 
tate himself. It is a matter of discipline and 
self-control. And it makes Lent a time of 
reinvigoration and refreshment. There is un- 
derneath the observance of Lent a profound joy 
in the fact that one is master of his environ- 
ment and habits. 

"This is a work-a-day world. Doctor. You 
practice many months in the year, but once in 
a while you go into a hospital to attend clinics 
and keep up with your profession. So the mem- 
ber of the Church finds work within and without 
the Church. He must serve his fellow men. But a 
time comes when he must sound his own depths 
and make sure that his own life and habits are 
not earth-bound. Lent provides this oppor- 

147 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

tunity. It is as essential to man's spiritual 
health, as a vacation is to his physical refresh- 
ment." 

"When our boys went to war, Doctor," put in 
the Major, "they were first sent to training 
camps, not only to be schooled but to be 
hardened by the process. They were not only 
to be drilled but to be made 'fit.' As I understand 
it. Lent is the time for training in life's necessary 
discipline. By it one determines, too, whether 
the non-essentials have actually become es- 
sentials in life. Sacrifice is a great source of 
strength." 

"Well said. Major," commended the Judge. 
"I look forward to Lent as I would to a day in 
the woods, after a confused and distracted life 
in the midst of the noise of a city. It gives me a 
chance to know myself." 

"But are not its requirements arbitrary?" 
asked the Doctor. 

"Not arbitrary in the Episcopal Church. That 
is the last word to use about Lent. Lent is a 
privilege. While the Church suggests certain 
methods, such as abstaining from usual amuse- 
ments and social affairs, and also urges modera- 
tion in eating and even enjoins fasting, the 
Church imposes Lent on no one. Here again is 
the liberty within the Church emphasized. But 

148 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 

more important than what it suggests as Lenten 
discipline, is what it suggests as Lenten exer- 
cises; greater fidelity to the habit of prayer, more 
frequent communions, more religious read- 
ing, greater care in upbuilding religious hab- 
its and more concern for absolute righteousness. 
But each member of the Church is free to do as 
he wills." 

"Fasting is a good practice," said the Doctor. 
"It contributes to health and strength if mod- 
erately practiced." 

"Moderation is an excellent virtue in all 
things," added the Judge. 

"Is not Lent a sort of revival?" asked the 
Major. 

"It might be so considered. But the Episcopal 
Church does not stress the emotional value in 
religion to the exclusion of the other values. 
The Church tries to care for the child as the 
gardener cares for the flower. He does not at- 
tempt to change a seed into a flower by forced 
methods. No, he plants the seed, waters the 
growing plant, cares for it, keeps it free from in- 
sect enemies, and finally the flower is the result. 

"So the Church enfolds the child or even the 
adult and encourages the growing plant of 
spirituality to grow and become the flower. The 
child is instructed, cared for, put into the sun- 

149 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

shine of God's love, kept free from sinful en- 
vironments, nourished with truth, and directed 
to vv^orship and service. Such a child groves 
normally into his Christian stature. 

"At times, indeed, conversion becomes a neces- 
sity. Conversion means a turning about. A 
man on the wrong road must be faced about. 
But every faculty must be engaged in the process, 
not feeling alone. Feeling may encourage the 
movement, but conversion implies a different 
mental attitude, an appreciation of the real 
values of life, and it must be made sure by the 
establishing of the man in a completely new 
spiritual environment. He must be taught the 
Faith, must be rooted in new habits and he must 
allow his whole being to reinforce those resolu- 
tions which may have been primarily aroused by 
his feelings only. There is nothing that vanishes 
so quickly as overstrained feeling. 

"Lent serves to blend feeling, faith, knowl- 
edge, and purpose, in an effective stimulus to- 
ward righteousness. In that sense it is a re- 
vival." 

"Do you not think that it requires a good deal 
of courage for the Episcopal Church to remain 
steadfast in its methods, and loyal to its con- 
victions, when it has so much opposition or in- 
difference to overcome, and when those methods 

150 



THE CHRISTIAN YEAR 

seem the most difficult way of attracting great 
numbers of people to the Church?" asked the 
Doctor. 

"It has required courage, and loyalty, and 
steadfastness. But the Church has its convic- 
tions. It is sure that it must be true to itself and 
not weaken its convictions to draw the crowds. 
The Church is sure of its mission, and confident 
of the final outcome. The Church believes that 
vast numbers of people will ultimately find in its 
presentation of the Christian religion a deep and 
abiding satisfaction that will repay the Church 
for its efforts. 

"And this conviction seems to be confirmed 
by the growth of the Church in the last genera- 
tion. It is growing in numbers at a greater rate 
than the population is increasing in our land. 

"Where it has been long established, as in the 
Eastern states, it has acquired a power and in- 
fluence out of all proportion to its numbers. In 
New York city alone it has over one hundred 
parishes. In the West it is becoming very 
strong, especially in large centers of popula- 
tion. 

"Nor must we fail to take into consideration 
the power and influence of the larger spiritual 
Household of which we are a part. 

"The Anglican Communion, which includes 

151 



THE EPISCOPAL C H U R C H 

the Church of England, the Episcopal Church in 
America, and the Church of England in her 
provinces, and all the missionary jurisdictions, 
numbers about thirty-five million communi- 
cants. We are a large company. 

"Inspired by the conquests of the past, sure of 
the Rock on which it is founded, certain of its 
divine origin, the Church faces, without fear, the 
years of labor in which it must uphold the ban- 
ners of faith and righteousness, that the King- 
dom of God may ultimately prevail on the 
earth." 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE CHURCH AND MEN OF TODAY. 

"It seems that the Episcopal Church is an in- 
exhaustible subject for study," said the Doctor 
when the little group next assembled in the 
Rector's library. 

"It is," replied the Rector. "History, archi- 
tecture, art, as well as scripture, theology and 
literature, are intermingled in its structure." 

"Why have not all your people the benefit of 
such conferences as these?" asked the Doctor. 

"They might have if they had the desire and 
would give me the opportunity. But many peo- 
ple hesitate to talk to the minister plainly about 
these things because they feel that he would mis- 
judge them, and perhaps rebuke them for their 
opinions. That is not the case. It has been my 
experience that my men by plain talk have 
taught me as much as I have taught them. Many 
men have hold of vital truths. All they 
need is to have such truths adjusted to the whole 
system of religious truth so that they will be 
seen in proper perspective." 

153 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"Why is it that many men do not go to church, 
Rector?" asked the Doctor seriously. 

"You have asked a large question, Doctor, and 
one to which I have given much thought. If 
you will be patient with me I shall give you my 
conclusions on the subject." 

"We have the whole evening," put in the 
Judge. 

"It has been my experience," began the Rec- 
tor, "that many men, with honest conviction, liv- 
ing honest lives, have not found themselves in 
accord with the presentation of religion in their 
own community. They have felt that the various 
churches did not understand the spirit of this 
day, that they did not appreciate the real good, 
nor discriminate in their denunciations of world- 
wide practices and recreations. It has been im- 
possible for some men to give their whole- 
hearted devotion to churches, because they disa- 
gree with some of their points of view. They 
have been placed in the dilemma of either re- 
fraining from strict personal allegiance, or of ap- 
pearing to approve of that which they in their 
hearts could not accept and in their lives did 
not care to practice. Such men have honestly 
preferred to support the church with contribu- 
tions, as a tribute to the church's high purpose, 
but to withhold any personal allegiance, as be- 

154 



THE CHURCH AND MEN OF TODAY 

ing the most honorable thing to do* in view of 
their personal convictions. 

"There are others who, having no difficulties, 
nevertheless dismiss the church from their 
lives by reason of the pressure of other inter- 
ests. They theoretically uphold the ideal of 
righteousness, which they conceive to be the 
main contention of churches, and they approve 
of churches, as useful agents in maintaining 
standards of right conduct, but they give no im- 
mediate personal allegiance to any church. 

"Again there are those who believe that there 
are substitutes for organized Christianity. They 
find in lodges strong moral teaching and they 
find in social service the opportunity for per- 
sonal endeavor. They believe themselves ex- 
empted from church affiliation. The church, so 
they believe, has nothing for them which they 
are not already receiving. This is a natural con- 
clusion if the church is considered as a religious 
lodge with a sermon attached. But it shows a 
misapprehension of the purpose of the church. 

"Again there are many men, yet young, who 
in their youth were subject to a discipline, often 
by parental authority, in Sunday school and 
church, which was distasteful and joyless. Not 
only were they taught doctrines against which 
in later years they rebelled, but they were com- 

155 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

pelled to practices from which later they gladly 
escaped. Their freedom was pleasant to them. 
But they have carried to maturity a sense of re- 
action against the restrictions of their youth, 
and at the same time they have retained a false 
notion of what religion expects of them and a 
false idea of what they must accept in the name 
of religion. They look with respect upon their 
former condition but with no eagerness to re- 
new it. 

"Again there are many men who have had no 
particular religious experience or training, who 
distrust the church because of the prevailing 
notion that the churches are teaching and prac- 
ticing meagre and joyless doctrines and habits. 
They have not been attracted by the general 
atmosphere surrounding religious worship. As 
a matter of fact they have been too ready to 
listen to criticisms of the church in order to 
justify their own aloofness. 

"Again there are men who believe that they 
are not in the proper frame of mind to accept 
religion in its organized bodies. They honestly 
believe that they are not good enough, or that 
they have not had any particular religious ex- 
perience. They see organized Christianity hold- 
ing revivals and otherwise emphasizing the emo- 
tional nature of religious experience and they 

156 



THE CHU RCH AND MEN OF TODAY 

realize that such an experience is foreign to 
their nature. 

"Again there are others who hold intellectual 
opinions which they take for granted are not ap- 
proved by the churches. Men have difficulties 
about the Bible, about the doctrines of future 
punishment, and about scientific truths, which, 
they assume, would bar them from membership 
in the churches. 

"With all such conditions of mind and tem- 
perament I have a real sympathy. I honor them 
for the integrity of their purpose. Without 
doubt there is much justification for their at- 
titude and it would be unnatural for them to 
think otherwise. For the churches have not 
been without fault in these matters and have 
been responsible for such conditions. But they 
are emerging from the ancient tyranny and from 
the inadequate presentations to which their zeal 
prompted them and are enlarging the bounds of 
their sympathy. 

"And of course there are men who have 
shrunk to lives of worldliness and sinfulness. 
Naturally they have no concern for the church. 
But it would be a most grievous error in judg- 
ment to assume that any large percent of non- 
churchgoers are of this class." 

"Do you believe," asked the Judge, as the 

167 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

Rector paused, "that the church will again se- 
cure the allegiance of the majority of men?" 

"It has already begun to do so, Judge," was 
the firm reply. "I believe that the church is ad- 
justing itself to the temper of the day, and that 
men in large numbers are becoming interested 
in the new life and vision. I speak with abso- 
lute confidence when I say that the Episcopal 
Church in America has a most reassuring mes- 
sage to the men of this day. In its practices and 
teachings, in its expectations and in its loyalties 
the Church is sympathetic to the needs and con- 
ditions of modern life. Especially can it say to 
the men who are troubled by the difficulties 
mentioned above, that the Church respects those 
difficulties, because they express the attitude 
of right thinking and honorable men. Person- 
ally, I believe that the reluctance of men to as- 
sent to the persuasion of the churches has been 
valuable in compelling the Church to grow to 
the measure and stature of those whose support 
and allegiance it seeks. The Episcopal Church 
will neither dishonor itself nor belittle the men 
whom it attempts to serve, by abandoning a 
single fundamental religious truth, but it does 
assert that those fundamental truths do not 
afford any real basis for such attitudes as have 
been described, and that its whole temper, its 

158 



THE CHURCH AND MEN OF TODAY 

whole atmosphere, its traditional practices, its 
expectations, are such that reluctant men may 
find a true home and intellectual and spiritual 
satisfaction within its borders." 

"In what respect, Rector, has the Episcopal 
Church a special message to men today?" asked 
the Doctor. 

"In the first place. Doctor, the Episcopal 
Church is holding fast to the fundamentals of 
the Christian faith. Men today respect convic- 
tions. They are tired of the guesses and the sur- 
mises and the frothy imaginings and the cheap 
sensationalism of those who under the pretense 
of liberty to believe what one likes, are offering 
often trifling substitutes for the sound and tried 
conclusions of universal Christendom. Men do 
not want religion to be belittled and reduced to 
mere amiability. Life, death, sin, and sorrow, 
loom too large in human affairs for men to be 
indifferent to the fundamental truth of God 
about these things. The Episcopal Church pre- 
sents the Gospel of Christ as a whole, and the 
Christian faith as a whole, and not in such frag- 
ments as may please the hearer. It is the Church 
of great affirmations. 

"Again, the Episcopal Church is not burdened 
by the religious idiosyncrasies and eccentrici- 
ties that have clouded religious truth ever since 

159 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

men began to form the countless sects. I have 
not the least doubt in the world that many men 
confuse the Christian faith with crude and ob- 
scure notions which they learned in child- 
hood and have never outgrown. Recently a man 
said to me that he thought that if one belonged 
to a church he had to believe literally every word 
in the Bible, including the statements that the 
world was made in six days. The Bible is the 
Word of God, I assuredly maintain, and the ex- 
pression of God's revelation to men, and a 
spiritual, religious and moral food and stimulus, 
but it has its human framework and the limita- 
tions of any revelation of God through human 
instruments. To believe as that man believed 
is to make the Bible a book of magic, or an idol. 
The Episcopal Church teaches the Bible truth 
but it demands the use of reason and of 
spiritual appreciation in gathering the central 
truths from the Bible. Upon its members it im- 
poses no obligation whatever to assent to any 
theory as to how the Bible is the word of God, 
but the Church teaches the Bible truth and tries 
to enrich the lives of its people by the message 
of God therein. 

"It is not necessary to hold a theory about the 
Bible. The Church has gleaned the fundamental 
religious truths from it and interprets them to 

160 



THE CHURCH AND MEN OF TODAY 

the people. The Episcopal Church gives full 
intellectual freedom to its members. 

"And this is another reason why the Episco- 
pal Church is so satisfying to men of this day. 
There was a time when Christianity seemed to be 
committed to the denial of the scientific discov- 
eries of the day, such as, for example, the princi- 
ple of evolution. Many religious bodies adhere to 
that denial. But the Episcopal Church has 
grown in its intellectual sympathies with the 
scientific advances of the day, and it encourages 
the fullest possible use of the human intellect 
in its discovery of truth. 

"Again, the Episcopal Church is committed to 
the principle of moral freedom. The Church is 
not the accuser and judge of the people, but their 
advocate and friend. The Church directs its ef- 
fort toward forming sound judgment and spirit- 
ual insight in the people, and toward setting 
forth the moral and religious principles by 
which life must be controlled. But the Episco- 
pal Church does not erect a set of rules govern- 
ing conduct and bind the people to them. In this 
land there are several things that some churches 
have attacked with vehemence, such as 
card playing, dancing and the theatre. The 
Episcopal Church sets forth the moral principles 
by which conduct must be guided arid then per- 

161 



THE EPISCOPAL C H U JR C H 

mils its people to apply these principles to all 
conduct, even such things as dancing and theatre 
going. Almost any permissible thing may be 
abused, but its proper use is not therefore to be 
prohibited. 

"Again, the Episcopal Church respects the in- 
dividuality and personality of men. The Church 
does not try to reduce every life to some com- 
monplace sameness of experience and interest, 
but tries to encourage every life to enlarge and 
expand to its own destiny. Men differ in tem- 
perament, habits, environment. Some enjoy the 
intellectual aspects of Christianity, some the 
emotional, some the philanthropic. To at- 
tempt to recreate each temperament and to have 
some identical mediocrity is folly. The Church 
does not expect it. The Church realizes that 
some men want to know, some want to feel, 
some want to act. The Church ministers to each 
type and respects it. Some men have never ex- 
perienced conversion, and have no profound 
emotions. But the Church is comprehensive 
and asks those of honest purpose to come with- 
in the sphere of its life and teaching, and to 
serve God with their gifts, whatsoever they may 
be. At the same time, the Church endeavors to 
cultivate the neglected portions of their nature, 
to bring to them an appreciation of all the ele- 

162 



THE CHURCH AND MEN OF TODAY 

ments of a well rounded Christian experience, 
fortified by a reasonable faith. 

"Again the Episcopal Church makes no man a 
hypocrite. A man may be a hypocrite by na- 
ture, but the Church does not make him one. I 
mean that the Church does not exact a profes- 
sion from its members by which they later may 
be judged. The Church is not the judge but the 
friend. 

"As a friend the Church is sympathetic. This 
sympathy extends to people in every circum- 
stance of life and of every condition of heart. 
The Church desires to destroy sin but to save the 
sinner. Consequently the doors are wide open 
to every one who has a will to turn to God for 
forgiveness or for direction. As a mother, she 
erects no barriers at the door by which to ex- 
clude any who desire the strength or the com- 
fort the Church may give. The Church asks 
only honesty of purpose. 

"Men have not always so understood Church 
affiliation. They have regarded Church allegi- 
ance as a profession of superiority in life or 
character. Men have been honest in their wish 
to decline an affiliation which implies that 
they have attained a righteousness which 
would pass muster at the Church door. Their 
reluctance to make such a profession is both 

163 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

natural and honorable. If Church membership 
is a badge of sainthood achieved they will not 
wear the badge. 

"It is unfortunate that such a misconception 
has had some justification in religious societies. 
But the Episcopal Church asks for no such pro- 
fession. As well might a college ask the enter- 
ing student to profess profound scholarship. 
The student goes to college not because he has 
attained scholarship, but because he respects 
scholarship and would give himself the chance 
to attain it. The man enters the Church not be- 
cause he has attained righteousness, but because 
he respects righteousness and would be within 
its influence. 

"So far from being a profession of superior 
righteousness, it is a simple desire to grow into 
the life abundant, that is the inspiring avowal of 
every one who enters the Church. Let it be 
clearly understood that on this point the Church 
asks only honesty of purpose. 

"Again, the Episcopal Church teaches the joy 
of life. Too often has the aspect of Christianity 
been dismal and gloomy. The Church knows 
that sorrow and pain and sin are part of hu- 
manity's burden, but it knows likewise that the 
message and power of the Church are directed 
toward assuaging sorrow, relieving pain, and 

164 



THE CHURCH AND MEN OF TODAY 

cleansing lives from sin. The Church's message 
is joyous. It preaches good tidings. Therefore 
the attitude of the Church toward men is full of 
the joy of Christ. Consequently the Church em- 
phasizes those occasions in which natural hu- 
man joy has its expression. The Church is es- 
pecially sympathetic and tender toward the 
young. It tries to fill their lives with joy and 
happiness. 

"And this brings me to the Church's attitude 
toward amusements and recreation. 

"The Church's ideal is to consider the whole 
of life as the subject of its care. Man is a unit, 
and all his activities affect his spiritual na- 
ture. Every current which sweeps into his life 
from any source modifies his deeper religious 
experience. Therefore, the Church is justified 
in scrutinizing every influence which affects its 
people. 

"One of the most insistent of appeals to all 
sorts and conditions of men is the attractiveness 
of amusement. This attractiveness has a sound 
basis in the real nature of men. Play for the 
child has been found to be not a mere diversion, 
but a real necessity for its mental and moral 
growth. Proper play for the individual, or 
really, the proper counter-balance for the more 
serious duties of life, is not mere frivolity but a 

165 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

tonic, a necessary ingredient of life for those 
who do not despise God's gifts of health and 
sanity. 

"Most opportunities for diversion are not 
only commercialized but they are not free from 
objectionable features. Therefore any agency 
by which proper amusement can be provided 
under conditions not influenced by commercial 
considerations, is contributing to the whole- 
some upbuilding of character. 

"The Episcopal Church, acting upon this con- 
viction and with full knowledge of the condi- 
tions of modern life, often provides for its 
people the proper amusements and diversions 
conducted under careful supervision and with 
the strict intention of deepening the spiritual na- 
ture of those for whom it is caring. Such activi- 
ties directed in proper channels and diverted 
from improper ones, have been found to free 
young people from a certain suspicion of the 
Church as antagonistic to the simple pleasures 
of youth. Young men and young women are 
permitted to meet for social diversions in which 
a high standard of mutual respect is upheld. The 
world, itself, recognizes that the normal condi- 
tion of society is for men and women to meet to- 
gether and it would be folly to assume that the 
best ideals of the race are to be attained by pre- 

166 



THE CHURCH AND MEN OF TODAY 

venting such association. Consequently, in their 
youth there must be an opportunity for young 
men and women to meet and respect each other. 
This mutual acquaintance soon brings keen 
judgment and the faculty of discrimination, and 
no boy or girl who has normal opportunities for 
meeting other boys or girls is going to be so 
quickly deceived as to the real worth of char- 
acter in another as one who has not had such 
opportunities. Such acquaintance and com- 
panionship are affected by the environment in 
which it is maintained. 

"It must not be supposed that the Church con- 
siders this the fulfillment of its mission. It is 
but one of the attempts of the Church to serve 
the real needs of the community. The real mis- 
sion of the Church is never lost sight of, that is, 
to bring individuals into the Kingdom of God 
and to make them realize their personal rela- 
tion to Jesus Christ as their Saviour. The Epis- 
copal Church is not apprehensive of the effect 
of its social emphasis because it has its founda- 
tion most firmly rooted and does not distrust its 
people. It believes that social service is a 
natural outcome of its fundamental principles. 
Its whole structure is comprehensive and not 
exclusive. 

"And finally," concluded the Rector, "the 

167 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

Episcopal Church has a supreme confidence in 
life. Life is God's gift, not His curse. This is 
God's world, not man's prison. Pain and sacri- 
fice are here, but there are likewise joy and 
blessing. 

"All these considerations appeal to men of to- 
day. The Church is slowly but surely bringing 
the men of today back to the satisfaction, the 
mental and moral stimulus, the keener valua- 
tions and more enduring riches of the Christian 
life." 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE APPEAL OF RELIGION TO MEN. 

The Rector was poring over a chess problem 
when the Doctor appeared the following week. 

"What!" he cried, "chess? Isn't that rather 
too secular for a parson?" 

"This problem is too tough for any parson," 
admitted the Rector. 

"You can't growl at it as one can at golf," re- 
joined the Doctor. "You clergy, nowadays, seem 
more inclined than ever before to take up secu- 
lar sports." 

"What induces you to call sports secular, Doc- 
tor?" asked the Rector. 

"Well, I rather think of week day pursuits as 
secular." 

"If you mean that secular things are ungodly 
or unbecoming a religious person, I must dis- 
agree with you as to the use of the word. While 
it is apparent that certain things are sacred, it 
is not quite so certain that all things not dis- 
tinctively sacred are secular or ungodly. There 
are many pursuits that contribute to one's 

169 



THE EPISCOPAL C H U R C E 

spiritual power. Proper recreation for example, 
which keeps the body in good condition and 
maintains health, may be a real contribution to 
man's spiritual efficiency." 

"I never did quite see the relation between 
spirituality and ill health," admitted the Doctor. 

"There seems to be a popular delusion," said 
the Rector, "that the religious person is slightly 
lacking in robustness and vigor and is inclined 
to a certain mildness in action and thought. It 
is all nonsense." 

"But is there not some trait that marks the 
godly man?" 

"There are several. A real courage in the face 
of the trials of this world; a responsiveness to 
the higher calls of duty; a consideration for 
others which marks the nobility of the gentle- 
man; a sensitiveness to eternal values in life's 
experiences; and a sense of God's law and love." 

"I rather thought the godly man was the man 
who engaged in church work." 

"Church work is merely one expression of 
man's godliness. You are dragging about a lot 
of old notions in your head. Doctor," said the 
Rector, earnestly* "All work has its spiritual as- 
pect. The man who runs a factory or a store, or 
who works at a desk or at a bench, is as much en- 
gaged in processes which have spiritual inter- 

170 



THE APPEAL OF RELIGION TO MEN 

pretation as the man who runs a church society. 
He is engaged in making some material things 
or in directing some forces which contribute to 
the sum total of human resources. Ultimately, 
every human effort is designed to affect the lives 
of people. An engineer builds a bridge with the 
expectation that someone will travel over it. 
Consequently every man who builds honesty into 
the fabric of his creation, justice into his rela- 
tions with men both immediate and remote, and 
uprightness into his affairs, and who emphasizes 
by his actions and speech the principle that 
money or gain is not the only, or perhaps the 
vital part of life's transactions, that man is con- 
tributing to the spiritual wealth of the world. 

"Your profession. Doctor, and every man's 
vocation or trade, has in it a large element of 
ministration to some human need. That is why 
work is not secular, in the sense of being un- 
godly, but has some sacred element. 

"This attitude toward the world would change 
our whole conception of life. You find life very 
interesting, do you not. Doctor?" 

"Immensely," asserted the Doctor with vigor. 
"Every day is a new world." 

"In times past there has been an attitude to- 
ward the world, especially among religious peo- 
ple, that to me has bordered on superstition. It 

171 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

has been thought that the world was like a 
quagmire, through which men must struggle as 
best they could, in order to reach the other 
shore. A man in it must work, to be sure, 
but that was but a concession to necessity and 
part of the hindrance to the religious life. The 
secular things were thought to delay and ob- 
struct and corrupt the religious nature. Some 
hymns reflect this attitude. Tm but a stranger 
here, Heaven is my home. Life is a desert 
drear, Heaven is my home.' " 

"I know those hymns," put in the Doctor. 

"They are susceptible of a higher meaning, 
but literally taken they express a feeling that 
life is a pretty sad affair, and that the world is 
hopeless. Now to me such a point of view seems 
utterly lacking in understanding of what the 
purpose of God is. I can hardly conceive it to 
be consistent with God's love or mercy or jus- 
tice, to create a race of men on the earth, and to 
make them creatures dependent for long years 
upon the environment and resources of earth, 
to plant desires and aspirations in their natures, 
and then to arrange that earthly occupations 
and earthly activities are entirely destructive 
of their souls." 

"It does seem rather lacking in love," said the 
Doctor. 

173 



THE APPEAL OF RELIGION TO MEN 

"I believe quite the contrary to that which 
I have stated," continued the Rector. "I know 
that men fall short of perfection, but I believe 
that the proper use of the world may contribute 
spiritual fibre, religious content, and moral sub- 
stance to life. A man may grow in godliness, 
even though he finds a method of expressing it 
in so-called secular pursuits and relations. 

"And I believe that our Church has this same 
attitude. It does not look upon your secular 
pursuit or recreation as a concession to worldly 
necessity, but as a sphere of action, normal and 
useful, in which your spiritual nature finds a 
field of exercise, of discipline, and of growth. I 
believe that there is many a man, doing fine 
service in shop and office, who is in a much 
nobler relation to the will of God than he real- 

* 99 

izes. 

"But some men are far from that ideal, you 
must admit," urged the Doctor. 

"Some men are pure worldlings. They have 
staked their all on the rewards of time and sense, 
on material possessions and sensual gratifica- 
tions. They have not only bartered eternity for 
a few selfish years, but they have sunk the nobler 
satisfactions of life for a few worthless toys." 

"But the others. Why should they go to 
church?" 

173 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"They should go to church because the 
Church respects them as men of action, doing 
useful things, and the Church will give them 
that appreciation which will keep them stead- 
fast. They should go to church because they 
there will be constantly reminded that their up- 
rightness and honesty are worth while. Because 
they will there learn the larger, more lasting 
and satisfying relations of their lives and ac- 
tions. Because they will be stimulated to main- 
tain high principles unto the end. Because their 
own lives will be interpreted to them in the light 
of God's plan for mankind. Because they will 
be warned of the dangers that surround them. 
Because they are God's children and the Church 
is His household and they are privileged to 
share in its satisfactions. And because, if they 
do not, they will soon lose sight of the central 
fact of Christianity and that is the life, work, 
and death of Jesus Christ, who reveals God to 
man.'* 

"But do not many men live lives of usefulness 
and render great service to mankind without 
going to church?" 

"Yes. But do you not realize that we are liv- 
ing and working together in this world? Such 
men would be a wonderful stimulus to the use- 
fulness of the Church. The Church needs them. 

174 



THE APPEAL OF RELIGION TO MEN 

And inasmuch as the Church is the only organ- 
ization that, with no thought of material gain, 
seeks to serve men and to bring the power and 
presence of God into their lives, it is one of the 
greatest privileges of earth to share in this labor 
for the race. 

"But even if one is content with a certain high 
usefulness in his chosen field, there is another 
phase of the whole matter. The Church has 
some information for that man which his inner 
being craves. 

"The Church believes that the man wishes to 
know why the great gift of life w^as given him, 
how he may see beyond the affairs of the 
moment, what is expected of one so richly en- 
dowed in mind and heart, what share he has in 
the improvement of the race, what he must do to 
enrich his own living, what thoughts he must 
think in order to understand his own relation to 
God and the world, what efforts he must make to 
gain real and durable satisfaction, what he may 
do to avoid the devastating sins, to whom he 
may appeal to quiet his conscience, how he may 
gain comfort in time of loss, how he must esti- 
mate necessary sacrifices, what powers he may 
appropriate to expand life and purpose, what 
unfading compensations there are for righteous 
effort and finally what his destiny is to be. 

175 



THE EPISCOPAL C H U R C H 

"The Church is the guardian of all this knowl- 
edge. Imperfectly as it may teach such truths, 
nevertheless that truth is its treasure. 

"If this treasury of truth is drawn upon, men 
will enlarge their vision and fortify their lives. 

"In this day the world is very attractive and 
alluring. Never were so many opportunities 
for interest and pleasure opened to human be- 
ings as there are today. Never were so many 
prizes set for the race. And men are surrender- 
ing to their fascination. I do not mean by this 
that pure worldliness is attracting them; not 
the flesh-pots and the sensualities and the ex- 
travagances. These indeed claim their victims. 
But men, young and old, are captivated by the 
possibilities for eff'ort, for growth, for exercise 
of every capacity in the enchantments of modern 
progress. The finer elements of manhood are 
indeed enlisted in the service of the prevailing 
civilization. 

"Science, both pure and applied, is asking of 
men sacrifices, fidelity, concentration and noble- 
minded consecration. No saint of any age has 
exhibited more power for sustained service than 
some of our scientists working for the ameliora- 
tion of human ills. And this challenge of nature 
to discover her truth has sounded in the ears of 
countless young men who have planned to de- 

176 



THE APPEAL OF RELIGION TO MEN 

vote their lives to the pursuit of the mysteries 
of truth in science. 

"Applied science, likewise, has captivated her 
thousands and has claimed the strength of a 
whole army of trained workers. 

"Industry, likewise, has demanded men of 
strength and of keen minds. Industry has 
provided a great quest in which the vitality of 
manhood may be expended without stint. In- 
dustry offers all the fascination which the young 
man craves, and presents him with a problem 
which is a challenge to his every capacity. 

"These things bring their reward, too. In the 
end they give him leisure and wealth, and a 
world to see and enjoy. They give friends, 
power, and a JQeld of service. They provide out- 
looks, vistas through which his imagination may 
project itself to a vision of greater conquests. 
It is very satisfying. 

"The Church dares not underestimate the 
power of civilization. And the Church must not 
undervalue or malign it. 

"But to such as have found in the world com- 
plete satisfaction for every conscious need, for 
every ambition, for the exercise of every abun- 
dance of heart and mind, for the employment 
of every instinct and tendency to helpfulness, 
and to such as therefore allow the claims of the 

177 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

Church to go unheeded, the Church has a par- 
ticular message. 

"The logic of such a position is that some men 
seem to find the world absolutely satisfactory 
vs itliout Cxod. God may be needed by the masses, 
as a sort of last resort, but to the capable there is 
a substitute for God. The weakness of their 
claim for exemption from the service of God is 
that they have forgotten the gift of life from 
God, and the gift of capacity from God. They 
may indeed rightly claim that they are serving 
mankind in a large way and cannot be spared 
to serve in minor parochial affairs, they may in- 
deed claim that they must not be expected to 
substitute minor social services for major, and 
that their larger work is more important than 
serving on committees, but they cannot claim 
exemption from simple gratitude. No man, who 
has received the blessing of a well protected and 
well nourished childhood, would in later years 
neglect his home. So gratitude, first, prompts 
successful men, and men doing big things in an 
efficient way, men under the fascination of large 
tasks, to render special service to God in His 
Church. 

"And the second consideration is of that per- 
sonal sort of which it is hard to speak without 
danger of uttering platitudes and conventional 

178 



THE APPEAL OF RELIGION TO MEN 

phrases. No man would count a highly suc- 
cessful, interesting and useful career very satis- 
factory if it alienated him from every simple 
human companionship and friendship, from the 
joys of home and family. Men rely upon these 
things to a remarkable degree. Without fam- 
ily and friends this would be a desolate world. 
Success would be ashes. Our family ties and 
friendships endure in trial and in adversity. 
They warm life and illumine it. 

"Yet all earthly ties fade. God alone is the 
great enduring friendly presence. To be a 
stranger to Him on earth is to be a stranger to 
Him forever. Never to think of God, never to 
serve God, never to worship God, never to share 
in His effort to make His Kingdom prevail, never 
to pray to Him, never to acknowledge His 
presence, never to ask His aid, never to 
recognize Him, is to reject the one enduring 
companionship. It is true that failing powers 
bring feeble desires, and that old age may 
weaken the sense of spiritual ties, but this is 
only a passing phase in the life of the spirit. 
The spirit, renewed, invigorated, will live on. 
Is the all-loving Father to be a stranger? Lone- 
liness is perhaps one of earth's greatest trials. 
Can eternal loneliness be what is meant by 
eternal punishment? 

179 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

"The Church comes into your life to bring you 
a knowledge of the presence of God. If one were 
going to live in a far country, would he not, if 
opportunity offered, make friends of the King 
of that country? 

"The Church comes into your life to make 
life more joyous, more free from sin, more con- 
tented, more spiritually furnished, more sound 
in its judgment of things that are worth while. 
But likewise the Church nourishes that growing 
union with God through Christ which is man's 
best heritage and the best compensation for his 
labors. 

"Again, every capable, every useful, every suc- 
cessful man must remember that noblesse 
oblige; that is to say, his very superiority in any 
realm of action places an additional responsi- 
bility upon him. If the emphasis of his life is 
wrong, his influence is confused and deficient. 
No matter what his own convictions may be as 
to the things that are eternal, if his manner of 
life seems to teach that he believes that man lives 
by bread alone, he fails to make his greatest 
contribution to the race. For the capable man 
must remember that his message to mankind is 
more effectively uttered by his general manner 
of life than by his words. It may seem a com- 
monplace saying to you, but a man's recognition 

180 



THE APPEAL OF RELIGION TO MEN 

of some spiritual and eternal value in living is 
most apparent when he conforms to a practice 
which in all the ages has been the expression of 
man's recognition of God, namely the practice 
of going to church. 

"The best contributions of any man, or of any 
age, to the life of the people are its spiritual 
contributions. The people need the spiritual 
treasures more than they need the comforts of 
civilization. They need to learn the deep satis- 
factions of righteousness, truth, honor, and 
purity, and the terrible penalties of sin. 'The 
soul that sinneth it shall die.' They need to 
know and to appreciate to the very depths of 
their being, the very love of God in those words 
which will sustain one in every kind of poverty 
and despair, will stimulate one to remain true 
and to persevere in every sort of difficulty, those 
words which have the highest hope in them 
for the persistent godly man, 'Whatsoever a 
man sows that shall he also reap.' They are a 
promise that devotion, devotion to one's simple 
duties, devotion to one's task, will bring not a 
reward, in the sense of some prize unrelated to 
his effort, but a harvest, a fulness of value, for 
the seed sown, the effort made. 

"Men must do human kind a service by show- 
ing, in their allegiance to the Church, that this 

181 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

constant message of the Church is the true 
trumpet call to righteousness and duty. 

"For if careless men tempt others to rely upon 
worldly rewards or satisfactions or possessions 
alone, they are committing men to a fruitless 
manner of life. Civilization and men's material 
achievements have as much capacity for evil as 
they have for good. The great war has shown 
this. Men have turned the finest achievements 
of our civilization toward destruction. The 
genius of our race, the wonderful processes of 
our day, mechanical, electrical, chemical, have 
become the agencies of war. With the war has 
arisen the conviction that war will not cease by 
reason of any sustained superiority of power in 
the hands of a group of nations, but war will 
cease when the hearts of men are changed, when 
the righteousness prevails which will exalt the 
nations. 

"To fail to contribute to the strength of that 
organization, the Christian Church, which alone 
teaches those great ideals, is to fail to give the 
world the only force which will eliminate evil 
of all sorts, the social evils, the industrial evils, 
and the racial cupidities which produce a peo- 
ple, not only bent on war, but determined to 
involve other and more exalted peoples in its 
ruins. 

1811 



THE APPEAL OF RELIGION TO MEN 

"To uphold the Kingdom of God is the surest 
way to transform the unmoral gains of civiliza- 
tion into an agency of righteousness, justice and 
peace. And you cannot uphold the Kingdom of 
God effectively without upbuilding the Church. 

"And again, a fact not to be ignored in this 
world, is the power of sin. Sins, great and small, 
destroy their tens of thousands. The Church is 
the only bulwark erected before the human soul 
to stay the onrushing tides of sin. For not only 
does the Church teach, protect, and warn, and 
rescue, but it has one great function more. It 
applies to life the forgiveness wrought by Jesus 
Christ on the Cross for the sins of the world. 
Man's efforts and God's effort through Christ, 
blend in the mission of the Church to men. 
Natural and supernatural agencies contribute to 
man's salvation. 

"The Episcopal Church sounds its appeal to 
men, women, and children, to become part of 
that great army which sustains the banner and 
the power of Christ. For centuries the Church 
has poured forth its treasure, its lives, its sacri- 
fices and efforts, for the good of the people. To- 
day the Church offers to you the heritage of 
countless centuries. The Church would place all 
these things at your service. It would make you 
share in its riches. Would it not be worth while 

183 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

for you to realize the unselfishness and the value 
of the Church's effort and to share with the 
Church in the mightiest crusade that ever in- 
spired men, the triumph in the world, and in 
your life, of the principles and powers of the 
Kingdom of God?" 



The End. 



THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

ITS MESSAGE FOR MEN OF TODAY 

BY 

GEORGE PARKIN ATWATER 

RECTOR OF THEv CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOUR 
AKRON, OHIO 



This book is an interpretation of the faith and 
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Church. 

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